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The Championdrive Podcast
Episode 2.8 ALL about the kids! Kade Tegtmeier's story that has led him to where he is, and the Miller Sisters success at the State Fair of Texas
00:35:27
All about the kids - from our Show Lamb of the Year, to the hard-working kids that we highlighted in this episode, Kade Tegtmeier with Tegtmeier Club Lambs and Reagan & Rylan Miller on their success at the State Fair of Texas.
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- [00:02]
Katelyn Sister Urban
Now entering the ring, another episode of the Champion Drive podcast presented by Novel Designs with your hosts, Katelyn Sister Urban and Steva Robinson. So after last week's podcast, I learned something incredibly mind blowing to me. There are people out there that do not love lambing out Ewes.
- [00:35]
Steva Robinson
Yes, I'm one of them.
- [00:37]
Katelyn Sister Urban
Why? It's the best time of the year.
- [00:40]
Steva Robinson
No, it's not. For one, it always takes away from my schedule and I don't like that. Like, I've already talked about that on the podcast. I want everything to be, you know, like, I want to have an idea what I'm doing and whatever. So I don't like it for that reason. And then it takes away from my sleep schedule, which I really like my sleep. And then I just don't like being like that gross. Like all that slimy, nasty stuff all over you all the time. It's like, you gotta take a shower all the time. Your hands are so dry, they might be bleeding because they're so dry. And I just don't like it. Like, not to be a girly girl, but I just don't like it.
- [01:14]
Katelyn Sister Urban
I think you're kind of being a little. A little bit of a girly girl here. Like, it's my favorite time. I like it because, like, when we get our lambing groups in, especially now that we've gone to so much AI stuff, like, I'm an efficiency person. Like, cross stuff off the list. Like, let's get three or four of these things going at the same time. Boom, boom, boom. Done. Cross them off your spreadsheet. I'm a spreadsheet person. Get them all done, get them all in. Like, it's a. It's like my favorite 7 to 10 day window when we have a AI lambing group. And like, I don't know, I. I sometimes feel like after you have a really hard pull, like it's a really good sense of accomplishment or like when stuff goes well. Now when it goes poorly, I don't like that. But, like, I had no idea that people didn't like it and even you. And can you please tell everyone about how you wear your hood in the lambing barn? Please?
- [02:05]
Steva Robinson
Yeah, So I don't like being, like, I really don't like being dirty. And like, I mean, like, okay, being dirty doesn't bother me. But like, when I'm. It's in the middle of the night and I have to go inside and take a shower every single time I go to the barn. It's just. It gets annoying and old to Me, and I don't like the way it makes my hair smell.
- [02:22]
Kade Tegmeyer
So if I had to go out.
- [02:23]
Steva Robinson
And check the barn in the middle of the night, I usually put on, like, a stocking cap. Then I put my hoodie on and I tie my hoodie all up where you can pretty much only see my eyes and my mouth, and then that's how I go because, like, I don't want my hair to smell bad. But then it also defeats purpose because I come in and take a shower every single time, too, so. But sometimes I don't have to wash my hair if I do it that way.
- [02:43]
Katelyn Sister Urban
To defend Sister a little bit, Sister does work her tail off in the barn, just not the lambing barn by choice. She still does work her tail off in the lambing barn, but she'd rather not be there.
- [02:54]
Steva Robinson
So, I mean, it's fine, but it's just not my favorite time. Once they're, you know, like two weeks old or so, like, I'm fine with them, but them first little few days, I'm. I'm kind of out.
- [03:05]
Katelyn Sister Urban
Well, we make a good team because I like the first couple couple days. I'll take that. That's my favorite time of the year, so. So I guess we'll have to ask on Champion Drive social media, if you're with Sis, Sister side or Steve's side on your how you feel about lambing season. We'll see who's right, I think.
- [03:24]
Steva Robinson
I don't know. I'm pretty sure I'll be right.
- [03:26]
Katelyn Sister Urban
I don't know. We'll see. You guys will have to weigh in on our social media and let us know if you resonate more with Steva or Sisters. So this week, besides lambing, if you guys haven't caught up with last week's podcast, it was one of our round tables. We had Brian Riley, Mike Stitzline, and Nicole Allen on and gave some really good tips. The feedback has been really good that we've gotten from it. So if you haven't had a chance to do it or to go listen to it, you definitely should. This week's is going to be kind of short and sweet. Who do you have on Sister?
- [03:59]
Steva Robinson
I caught up with K. Tegmeyer, and he's from Ohio. His story is really cool. You know, he's kind of one of those kids that didn't really grow up necessarily necessarily in the livestock industry. And he, like, he tells a story as his cousin showed South Downs and then they kind of got him into it, and then that kind of led him into, you know, showing a few. And he mentioned in the, in the podcast that he was just doing, he was showing up county fair level, just trying to break even. And then he realized like, you know, every single year he wanted to get a little bit better. And he started buying a few used and he actually works pretty close with the Sloans there in Ohio as well. And so that's kind of how I kind of got to know him. I, I kind of talked to him. I, I guess I like to interrogate people a little bit sometime. Tell me about how many questions I asked because I always want to know about people. And so I got to kind of know him and I thought he was a hard working kid and I just thought his story was really cool. You know, there's a lot of kids out there that I think are deserving and that deserve to be on something like this just from what's, just from what all they're doing. So I thought he was pretty deserving. I thought his was really good and I really enjoyed catching up with him. Like I said, he's from Ohio. His name's Kade Tegmeyer. And so be sure to check out his club lambs. But let's get right into Kate's.
- [05:18]
Kade Tegmeyer
Well, Kade, thanks for joining me today. You know, we like to showcase several young exhibitors or people that we think that are pretty special in the industry. And you were one that really stood out to us. Do you mind telling me a little bit about where you're from and your background getting into the show industry?
- [05:34]
Brian Riley
Yeah, absolutely. I guess right off the bat, thank you for the opportunity. I really appreciate this, for sure. But yeah, I'm from West Salem, Ohio, which is about an hour south of Cleveland. And I guess my background getting into the show industry is I, I got started off my first year of 4H. My cousins had some south downs and uh, for some reason the sheep kind of interested me. So uh, I guess they took me out uh, that fer that one day to get my sheep for my first year in 4H and we went up to Heffelfingers up in Attica and picked out a couple sheep and it just kind of grew from there.
- [06:16]
Kade Tegmeyer
And I know that you ended up buying a few using your own. So kind of what led into that thought process and kind of what did you do with that in your own show career as well?
- [06:25]
Brian Riley
Yeah, absolutely. So I guess I worked with heffle fingers for the first three or four years and at that point I was just showing at the county fair level and I was, you Know, buying a weather for 5, $600 and you go to the fair and you'd maybe break even, maybe make a hundred bucks. So at that point I was starting to think about it from an economical standpoint and I was wanting to start making some money actually on my projects instead of breaking even. So I decided to start breeding some of my own use. Kind of played around with it, had a couple and then around Covid I think it was. There's a breeder here in Wayne county that I know and he had online sales. So I was like, what the heck. I went out and I bought a u lamb from him and uh, I was able to grow a relationship with him and uh, dealt with him for a couple years to kind of get my flock going. At that point probably just had a half dozen use or so. And then uh, I forget. I think it was a spirit spring of 21 or 22 maybe. I bought my first you from us, Jim and Andy Sloan, which totally changed everything for me. But I guess once I bought that sheep I really got, uh, got very serious into the breeding. And uh, I think now I have like 35 head of sheep in my barn.
- [07:46]
Kade Tegmeyer
So you kind of grew a lot from nothing. So I know you've had, you've had a lot of success with the ones that you've raised as well. And I think if I remember right, you were grander reserve at your county fair. And I know county fairs up there are pretty tough. So tell me a little bit about like your thought process kind of what was it like going, raising that sheep from as a baby all the way to the, to the market standpoint.
- [08:10]
Brian Riley
Yeah. So I guess for the past two years I was fortunate enough to be reserve champion at the county fair. But yeah, it was a really cool process just because I. It's one that I was able to raise myself. You know, it hit the ground here at my barn day one and able to watch that sheep grow all throughout the summer and know what it looked like at the first time hit the ground to hit the show ring. So that was really cool and really special to me just because I know at our county it's very competitive. I may be a little biased, but I think it's probably one of the most competitive county fairs in Ohio, which I think says something. But there's other breeders in our county that have had success at this stage state level before. And I was able to go in there as a, you know, 18 year old kid and be able to compete with them and you know, be right there with them. So I thought that was pretty special and pretty cool. And I guess I'm just very fortunate to have that opportunity to do so well.
- [09:05]
Steva Robinson
Yeah.
- [09:06]
Kade Tegmeyer
And that kind of gives me goosebumps, honestly, you talking about that. I think that's pretty cool. So you know, you talked about your.
- [09:12]
Steva Robinson
Use that you have.
- [09:12]
Kade Tegmeyer
So what, what do you do on your mating decisions? Kind of like what. Where do you go on that?
- [09:19]
Brian Riley
So I guess personally what I do, just because I'm so close with Sloans, I work for him a lot and I. I'm over there a lot and I see the babies and I see how the babies progress and I. I've seen a lot of their buck lambs when they hit the ground for that first day and how they develop. So a lot of my ewes, I've bred Sloan's bucks just because I've seen them firsthand. I. I know what they learn, look like I know how they work and I can figure out how to predict them. And it's. It's an established genetics I know is a. I know it's solid and it's gonna get me in the right direction where I need to go, and it's gonna take my stuff that's maybe not the greatest and can be better and help push it forward to get me where I need to go.
- [10:01]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yes, absolutely. And to round this up, I have a few fun questions for you. So I hear you're a really good runner. So how did you balance athletics and the sheep responsibilities when that was all running together?
- [10:17]
Brian Riley
Yeah, so that was, that was. That's a good question. So I guess backtrack a little bit. Freshman year and maybe sophomore year high school, I was kind of like, I'm gonna be done with this running thing. It was kind of like I want to focus on the sheep more and the running was getting in my way. But come last couple years of high school, that mentality probably changed. It was pretty 50, 50. I was pretty dedicated to both, so I guess I'd always tell myself whatever I was doing, like if I was at cross country practice, I was going to give 100 to cross country. But when I got home, I was going to give a hundred percent to my show lames kind of deal. So this last two years, it was, it was just a lot of time and a lot of hours that I had to put towards both activities. But it was for sure worth it, without a doubt. And I guess the one thing that I now that this year I was first year out of high school, not running and still showing Sheep. This year what I noticed is I feel like I wasn't as good of a showman. Now I quit running, my legs weren't in shape like what they used to be. I know it may sound a little weird, but I honestly think it had something to do with it because I was in shape, my body was in shape and I was just able to show a little better. But I don't know, it was, it was an experience for sure. And yeah, running alongside the sheep for sure made a challenging but fun time.
- [11:36]
Steva Robinson
Yeah.
- [11:36]
Kade Tegmeyer
So what was like a day in the life like whenever you kind of balance it all, kind of tell me like how did you do everything?
- [11:43]
Brian Riley
Yeah. So it's kind of tough. So over the summer we'd have some voluntary practices like 7:30, 8 in the morning. So I'd have to make the decision depending on like when it got daylight and whatnot, do I wake up before practice, do I just feed or do I go, you know, exercise and work lambs before I go run or go run and then come back and then work lambs afterwards. So I had to balance it a little bit that. But during the school year it got a lot tougher once I went back to school because I obviously had to wake up in the morning, go to school and it was still dark out when I left for school. So I couldn't, couldn't really do a whole lot with lambs in the morning. But you know, I want to get home from school till about 4 o'clock in the afternoon, evening there. So once I got home then I'd have to bus butt with the lambs until it got dark and use all the time I had available.
- [12:35]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yes, for sure. So you know, you've talked about a few different people that have been pretty influential in your life. So I'm interested to know who is your mentor.
- [12:45]
Brian Riley
Mentor, I guess in the sheep industry wise, like I've, like I'm sure you've probably picked up on for sure is Jim and Andy Sloan. They have totally, totally changed my perspective on the sheep industry. And to be honest with you, I mean if it wasn't for them, I won't be sitting here talking to you right now, to be very honest. And I mean they've just done so much for me and I, I mean I went out on a limb and bought a sheep from them. I didn't know who they were and they didn't know who I was and I guess they just kind of took in and noticed what I was doing that one year at County Fair and noticed I was kind of doing it on my own, and they asked me if I wanted to come out and help them Lamb. And I said, yeah. And I took a risk, and it's for sure been a good risk I took because that totally changed my life. And those two people, I guess, are people I look up to, create greatly. Just because I. I hate to say it, but I'd almost consider Andy a friend. And then Jim, I, for sure, he's a mentor. He took a risk. He didn't know who I was, and I'm still going out there helping him. And I don't know, they just have been so good to me and have offered me so much help and guidance throughout these years, and it's been totally unnecessary. But they're just those kind of people that are willing to give that help.
- [14:03]
Steva Robinson
Yes.
- [14:03]
Kade Tegmeyer
And I know that there's several people like that in the industry that are giving back to young kids like you and me.
- [14:09]
Steva Robinson
So I think that's.
- [14:10]
Kade Tegmeyer
That's pretty cool that you have somebody like that in your corner. So the last question I have for you is, what is one piece of advice you have for a young breeder?
- [14:19]
Brian Riley
Just trying to get started, I guess. I kind of hit on it. But build a relationship with a breeder that you know very well, or at least get to know them very well, and you can trust them. Just find someone out that's willing to work with you and treat you right and help me out along the way. Like, any way, shape, or form of help really helped me greatly. Just become a better breeder and a better producer myself. So, yeah, I guess just build connections with people and get out and meet people and I guess get uncomfortable at times and do things that you want to be used to doing.
- [14:58]
Kade Tegmeyer
Well, Kade, thanks for joining me today. We're really proud of the success that you've had and everything that you've overcome to get to where you are. Be sure to contact Cade when you're in Wayne county so he can show you the lambs that he's. That he's raised. Thanks, Kade.
- [15:10]
Brian Riley
Yep, thank you.
- [15:15]
Steva Robinson
So, Steve, I know this podcast that we're doing right now is kind of all about the kids, and I think it's pretty fitting that we have our show him of the Year contest up. How did that even get started? You know, I really don't even know that. So how did that. How did that all kind of come about and kind of what led into this?
- [15:29]
Katelyn Sister Urban
The idea was actually Dwayne Fisher's. He's. He said we should have a Man of the year sometime. And I kind of blew it off thinking, like, oh, boy, that'd be hard to do or would be kind of controversial or whatnot. And he really pushed us to do it and it actually ended up being really good. We've come up with a really good system for it. So shout out to Dwayne. Dwayne also has a sale coming up the 7th on Saturday. They have an online sale, so be sure to check out Fisher Club Williams upcoming sale. We'll talk about that some more. But. But Dwayne really pushed us to do it. And it started out as just doing the man of the year and then we decided to add the female of the year and then the rookie of the year and then the show lamb of the year. And it's really turned into kind of a nice way to like recap the year. The way it works is we had nominations a couple weeks ago and anything with highest number of nominations gets in to be a top nominee, which is what you'll see the top 10 of each category for the final voting. And there's a ton of deserving sheep that didn't make it on that still had some nominations, but not enough to get into the top 10. So it's kind of fun to go back and look through and see what the genetics, the breeders, the kids and some of these. Like, you know, like, for example, the first one is Landry Lane's grand at Fort Worth. I mean, that was almost a year ago. So it's kind of nice to kind of go back and refresh your memories of what some of these sheep were. Let's talk about a few of them. Like I mentioned, Landry's was the champion at Fort Worth, and I believe that sheep, I got a piece the top five at Louisville that year as well. It's raised by Chad Walker livestock. There's also Gabby Routes grand at the show Reno. That sheep is raised by Amber Geen, I believe he's a unicorn. That is one of the top nominees as well.
- [17:08]
Steva Robinson
And then Sadie Allen has her grand market lamb at Tulsa and he was also reserve grand at Eyo. He's bred by Tuck Brothers and he's a unicorn. And then also from Eyo, Brinley Hogg is up. Her lamb is a brooking, actually, and he was a kraken. He showed at several different shows. He was champion several different times. And he ended his show career at Kansas City as the champion division for market lamb.
- [17:35]
Katelyn Sister Urban
Also up for the show lamb of the year is Kyle Rehacks grand at the Nebraska State Fair 4H. He was a frog by Road Rage. They called that one Hairy. And he was bred by Hasselbrook Show Lambs. I heard a lot of really nice things about that sheep. I never get a chance to go to Nebraska just because of kind of when it falls, but I heard a lot of good things about that sheep. Sister's roommate Colby is also up for Show Lamb of the Year. That's a Platinum Shelton. That was a unicorn. Say when Hot Mess. And that was shown by Colby Williams. That was the grand at Louisville just a few weeks ago.
- [18:09]
Steva Robinson
And then the grand at Exarban shown by Mackenzie Rule. He's actually bred by Begolka and he is a mythical on one of their donors they have. I know that he was really successful for McKenzie. And then Zach Tressler won grand at Indiana State Fair bred by Ricky Club Lambs. And he's a chief. And I know that's a pretty tough state fair, so I think that was a pretty good lamb to win that state fair.
- [18:31]
Katelyn Sister Urban
And then rounding out of the featured top nominees is Kylie Langley's grand at the Iowa State Fair FFA show. When Colby sent in his ad information for this, he mentioned that he thinks this is possibly the first sheep to win the All Iowa showdown in the state fair, which is kind of why the ad piece we did for that one is kind of titled Making History. Kind of a neat honor to win both of those. So congrats to those guys. That one is bred by Birch. Head over to Champion Drive now until December 8th to submit your vote for who you feel should be show limb of the year. Once the voting closes, we go through and we announce all of these at the end of the year, beginning of the first of the year, and recognize all of the champions. But congratulations to all of those that made the top nominees. And like I said, the voting is open till the 8th. And this year's award is sponsored by Showrite, which we'll have Cooper on next week from Show Rite to answer a lot of our feeding questions and everything like that. And thanks for their sponsorship and support. They've been a longtime supporter of the show Lamb of the Year. Moving right into the next segment of our podcast. You kind of mentioned this podcast segment or episode is all about the kids. The next girls we have on are the Miller sisters from Texas. Which sister sat down with them? For those of you that maybe aren't quite aware, the Miller sisters would be Derek Miller's daughters and Miller Hampshires that'd be from the same Miller Hampshires that have so much influence on the genetics that so many of us are familiar with. You know, Miller genetics run deep in a lot of our flocked several generations back. And then Derek's wife is Ashley Graff from Iowa, who many of us in the Midwest would have been familiar with. Ashley and her family, her sister Nicole, and her parents, Margaret and Myon. They definitely were a great sheep family. So we thought it was really neat based off of. Even though the Miller girls had success not only in the sheep ring, but we got them on because of their success with the goats. But I thought it was really neat because they come from basically, you know, two really good sheep families that have been in the industry for a long time.
- [20:40]
Steva Robinson
Yeah. And I know Siva, you know, you mentioned that they came from two sheep families and they actually had grand in reserve grand market goat at the State Fair of Texas. I thought that was a pretty, pretty big feat in itself. And to get them on, I was pretty excited. They were two really sweet, really well respected girls. I always love getting little kids like that. I like to know their, their perspective on it. I think it's interesting and I sometimes I think it just kind of brings us a little bit back to reality of like just kind of the basics. So I really enjoyed them. Let's get right into theirs.
- [21:13]
Kade Tegmeyer
I am sitting down with Reagan and Rylan Miller, and they exhibited the grand and reserve grand market goats at the Texas State Fair. And I, I know that this is a sheep podcast, but I thought that was a pretty cool feat that they did. So what were you girls feeling when you guys achieved those goals?
- [21:31]
Reagan Miller
I was beyond excited. If we just got one piece out of it, I was happy. But since we got both pieces out of it, I was extremely happy.
- [21:40]
Rylan Miller
I felt like our work has paid off and this is my first year to show, so I was really excited about that.
- [21:47]
Kade Tegmeyer
Dang. Yeah. That's quite an accomplishment for your first year at the State Fair of Texas. For sure. So tell me a little bit about the time you guys spent spend working up to that goal.
- [22:02]
Reagan Miller
Well, at the beginning, when we first got, my goat's name was Skittles and he was always kind of a little stubborn, but once I just kept working with him and stuff and talking to him. He got there and then at the show, he worked amazing. He did everything that he was supposed to do.
- [22:20]
Rylan Miller
Yeah, my goat's name was Reese's and he did really, really good. We never took him out just that once and he did really good.
- [22:30]
Kade Tegmeyer
Dang. That's, that's quite a one show wonder for your goat, huh? So you guys seem to have a candy theme going on. Did that throughout the whole barn, or was that just your sister?
- [22:41]
Reagan Miller
Throughout the whole barn? Every year we do something different. So like last year it was singers, and then the next, like this coming year is going to be actors.
- [22:49]
Kade Tegmeyer
Oh, I like it. I love all the names. So I know you guys. You guys obviously had a pretty successful show. Did you guys face any setbacks? I know, Reagan, you said that your goat was pretty stubborn, so it kind of took a lot getting there. So did you face any setbacks with your goats?
- [23:07]
Rylan Miller
My Reese's, he would not really give his head up that much. And I remember one time he did the death roll on my mom.
- [23:17]
Kade Tegmeyer
Oh, I bet your mom was not very happy with that, huh?
- [23:20]
Reagan Miller
Was not happy at all. He never did that again.
- [23:25]
Kade Tegmeyer
So did you guys always know that those two were special, or was it just kind of there at the end? They just really kind of came on, or what was your problem?
- [23:34]
Reagan Miller
They were always our favorites in the barn, and they just looked right, and they. Their weight was good, and they just always were our barn favorites. So I thought they were great to take to state fair.
- [23:43]
Rylan Miller
Yeah, they were always our barn favorites.
- [23:46]
Kade Tegmeyer
So do you guys have any new favorites now?
- [23:49]
Reagan Miller
I. After skittles, the one that we brought to state fair, it's probably an impact sheep that we have in our barn.
- [23:56]
Rylan Miller
Probably the sheep that I took to state fair, but now it's probably a south down from Aaron Jennings.
- [24:04]
Kade Tegmeyer
I see. So, you know, you guys kind of mentioned a little bit that you guys show sheep and goats. You just brought up your sheep. So how do you balance having both species in the barn?
- [24:15]
Reagan Miller
Well, my family has been raising sheep for four generations now. We have, like 300 head of sheep, and we. We keep a few sheep in our barn, and we also buy some sheep from other breeders.
- [24:29]
Rylan Miller
Yeah, when we're at the show, it works out perfectly. When they're showing at the same time, it's a little stressful, but it works out perfectly. And sometimes people ask us, are sheep or goats your favorite? And we say, it just depends on the animals.
- [24:48]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yes, absolutely. Everything has their own kind of temper, huh?
- [24:52]
Reagan Miller
Yes, it does.
- [24:53]
Kade Tegmeyer
So I know you guys, you know, if you show. If you show goats or sheep at state fair, and then you also show at the Texas majors, and then, like, I know you guys said that you're going to Arizona, so pretty much you have animals year round. So what is a typical day like for you in the barn on the weekends?
- [25:10]
Rylan Miller
We're usually always out in the barn and then on the school days after school, we work out in the barn for like two hours.
- [25:18]
Reagan Miller
And our dad tracks four times a week and then my mom and dad treadmill three times a week and we have Hadley Owens from Utah help us with our hair and stuff to make sure they're all good and stuff.
- [25:32]
Steva Robinson
Yeah.
- [25:32]
Kade Tegmeyer
So it sounds like you guys have a pretty good support system behind you. So who would you like to think that has helped you get to this point in your show career?
- [25:43]
Rylan Miller
The blue team, weather family and Hadley.
- [25:47]
Reagan Miller
My family and Chad Walker. Chad helps us pick out our right animals, helps us do like whatever we need to do at the majors, make sure they're all good and stuff. And my family just supporting me and.
- [26:00]
Rylan Miller
Yeah family raises our goats and helps us throughout the year. And then Hadley, she just helps us whatever we need.
- [26:10]
Kade Tegmeyer
It's always good to have those kind of people in your corner. And it sounds like you guys have a pretty good support system.
- [26:16]
Reagan Miller
Yes.
- [26:17]
Kade Tegmeyer
So to wrap this up, I have a few fun questions for you. I know barn chores are sometimes boring and we don't always like them all, but what is your favorite barn chore?
- [26:28]
Reagan Miller
Mine's probably drenching because sheep and goats are so different. The sheep, you can make them do whatever but the goats, they're just, they're, they lock their jaws, you can't do anything with them. But the most satisfying thing and what you feel very accomplished of after a week of drenching to go and they finally take all the drench.
- [26:47]
Rylan Miller
Mine is probably feeding them. I like adding all the add ins and it's like making a potion.
- [26:55]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yes, absolutely. And Reagan, I understand the finally you finally get a goat to drench.
- [27:00]
Katelyn Sister Urban
Yes.
- [27:01]
Kade Tegmeyer
It seems like it takes forever to get there, huh?
- [27:04]
Reagan Miller
Yes, it does.
- [27:06]
Kade Tegmeyer
So I know we already talked a little bit about what your favorite animals that you've had on feed for this year, but what do you, what, what is your all time favorite animal that you've had?
- [27:17]
Reagan Miller
Probably the goat that we took to state fair. He did the best and that was really special because that was my first major I've ever won with it, like with an animal. So I think he's probably my favorite one.
- [27:28]
Rylan Miller
It was probably the sheep that I took to state fair.
- [27:32]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yeah. And I know Reagan, you said that, you know that goat was really, really stubborn and sometimes it's really hard to get a kid to understand that like, you know, they have to spend a lot, a lot of time with those animals that are stuff like are stubborn versus always just the ones that are easy. So I'm sure that kind of helped you get a special bond with him as well.
- [27:51]
Reagan Miller
Yes, it did.
- [27:54]
Kade Tegmeyer
So aside from livestock, what are your favorite hobbies you enjoy doing?
- [27:59]
Rylan Miller
I. We every Wednesday I go to tumbling and then sometimes we play basketball after we work the animals.
- [28:09]
Reagan Miller
I love swimming, playing volleyball and basketball.
- [28:12]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yeah, well, I love playing basketball with my siblings in the barn. That was always my favorite thing to do. So I'm glad you guys also get to enjoy something outside of the barn, huh?
- [28:21]
Reagan Miller
Our still favorite hobby is showing livestock.
- [28:24]
Kade Tegmeyer
Yes, I agree with that. So I know you guys, you know, you, you had grand in reserve at State Fair Texas and then I know at Kansas City you guys were in the same class. So, Rylan, do you ever think that you're going to get to beat your older sister?
- [28:39]
Rylan Miller
Yes, definitely.
- [28:41]
Kade Tegmeyer
I like the confidence. Well, thank you guys for joining me today. I really appreciate you, you guys being on and we're really proud of your success in the show ring.
- [28:51]
Reagan Miller
Yes, thank you. Thank you.
- [28:57]
Steva Robinson
Well, I thought that was a really good episode with the Miller sisters. And let's get right into what we have up on Champion Drive right now for sales.
- [29:04]
Kade Tegmeyer
You know, you mentioned already that fans.
- [29:05]
Steva Robinson
Fisher Club Lambs, which is Dwayne Fisher and his family in Idaho, they have their sale up. I always like when I see his name come, come in through the emails. He's a pretty frequent customers of ours and they're really, really good and easy to work with. So his sale is Saturday, December 7th and that's an online sale and be sure to check those out. They look pretty good and eat more onions, as Duane always says.
- [29:28]
Katelyn Sister Urban
Yeah. Also on Champion Drive, as many of you have seen, we have the looking for falls. This is a new thing that we've added to the Champion Drive Breeder Directory. This kind of came to us a while a while back with us with the industry kind of going to lambing almost year round or sales year round or so many different age groups. We added a feature on the directory where you can sort by who has fall borns, who has December borns, March Aprils, semen, breeding stock show lambs. So if you're looking for fur falls and trying to plan a trip, make sure you go to the breeders directory on championdrive.com and you can sort it by there. Since this is new, we're still working on getting everyone's information in from different breeders as to what they have. So if you're a breeder, this kind of leads into our so you suck if you're a breeder, make sure you go to Champion Drive. You can update your listing. There's a form on there you can just fill out real quick, select what you'll have this year and then our group will go in. Sarah goes in and updates the database with it and then it shows up on the website. So make sure that's kind. That's got to be on your to do list to get that updated so people can find you. There's also a map on Champion Drive so you can help plan your trip or kind of see where everyone's located at. I know I refer to that a lot when I'm out on the road because I always feel like, well, if I'm going here, who else can I hit on the way? And I like to go look at sheep. So I use that quite a bit. I hope you guys do too. This week. So you suck is all about the mix. So right now there are so many online sales with Fallborns, there's more Fallborns than there's ever been before. We're all getting ready to start lambing if we haven't already. Holidays are coming up and it's so hard to keep everything updated. But it can be really easy if you have a little bit of a plan or if you have the right people helping you. So you can't just po. You could just post on your social media, but then all of a sudden you go, well, why did no one interact with my post? No one saw it. Well, and then there's some people like I personally do not, as sister knows, I do not tick tock. I have. Every time someone sends me a tick tock, I have to log into some app. I don't have it. I don't do it. But there's some people that are on TikTok a lot. There's some people that are on Facebook a lot. There's some people that are on Champion Drive a lot. There's some people that refer to their email marketing. There's some people that listen to podcasts. There's some people that are in on Instagram. So. And you have to be able to reach all of those to maximize your mark or to maximize your dollars and your sales. So you need to have a mix. But if you have a plan, it can be really easy. We have a marketing package that allows for you to get some social media graphics for your sale that those graphics also can be placed on your website. They can also work on your Snapchat, they can work on your Instagram stories. They can work on your Facebook feed. And as a bonus, when you advertise on Champion Drive, you also get included in our weekly email blast that Sister puts together for us. You get mentioned on the podcast and you get posted on Champion Drive. So all of that can be done. Although it sounds daunting to have to be on all of those platforms and reach people through all those different ways, if you have the right people helping you, it can actually become pretty easy and you can knock it all out at once. So make sure you get your website updated with your current sires. I was looking through a couple sales the other night and I was so frustrated. Like, I don't even know what the sires of these are. I'm a pedigree person, so I like, I really dig through the sales and try and figure that out. It's so important to have a place that someone can go to and figure out like, what is buck so and so because that's important to me. So get your website updated, get with novel designs or Champion Drive get with any of us and we can get you hooked up with a social media package. They're also, like I said, get, get you advertising on Champion Drive on your social medias and on your website and we can all take care of it with one or two emails and it's taken care of. And I also had someone the other day that pointed out to me, oh, well, you guys do more than just build the graphics. We actually have several customers that we take care of, helping them come up with a plan of what should I post. Because some people that doesn't come easy to. For me, that's what I think about all the time. When I'm out having my heyday in the lambing barn during my favorite time of the year, which is not sisters favorite time of the year, but during my favorite time of the year. Part of why I like it is it gives me time away from the computer and I can come up with some ideas. That's what I'm thinking about when I'm tubing a baby lamb or when I'm feeding ewes or changing out water buckets. A lot of times I'll think about like, huh, I wonder how I could spin this. Or I wonder how I could communicate this. Or hey, here's an idea that I have. So there's a lot of people on our staff that do have those ideas and we can help you. It's not marketing doesn't come easy to everyone, but if you find someone that can help you, they we can help come up with a plan and we can also help execute it in terms of going through, in posting it, helping with ideas, helping get a plan together. And then it all of a sudden doesn't become as daunting because some of us like to be in the lambing barn and don't want to have to worry about marketing. So that would be my so you suck for this week.
- [34:23]
Steva Robinson
Yeah. And I think that's a great thing that, you know, that we put together that maybe people don't always realize how easy it really can be. So I'm really glad that, you know, we're able to offer those services so to people from, you know, small breeders to large breeders and everybody in between. No breeders too small and no breeders too big for us to help you. So I think we had lots of, lots of good things to talk about. I really enjoyed this podcast just being about the kids. I really enjoy doing things for the kids and I think that we can get right into our next one on next week we will have Show Rite and RSG on for our Show Lamb of the Year sponsor and also our Female of the Year sponsor, which is rsg. So be on the lookout for that next week and we'll catch you next time.
- [35:04]
Katelyn Sister Urban
See ya.
- [35:22]
Brian Riley
It.