93
Let’s hear the story of Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry Agriculture, and the people who make it happen. Sponsored by Nebraska's Law Firm® - Rembolt Ludtke.
93
Adam Sawyer--Legacy, Angus and the Value of the Simple Life
In this episode we visit with fourth-generation Nebraska rancher Adam Sawyer of A&B Cattle near Bassett to explore what it means to build a future by staying true to your roots. Adam shares how he and his wife are raising the fifth generation on their family ranch, producing some of the nation’s best Angus genetics through hard work, thoughtful stewardship, and real-world ranching principles. From the Nebraska Sandhills to the values of family, community, and giving back, this episode is a thoughtful conversation about legacy, resilience, and why the simple life is a Nebraska value worth preserving.
Nebraska. It's not just a place, but a way of life. It's 93 counties that are home to innovative individuals, caring community, and a spirit that runs deeper than its purple soil. It's a story that should be told. Welcome to 93, the podcast.
SPEAKER_03:Welcome to 93. This is a podcast about Nebraska, its communities, its number one industry agriculture, and the folks who make it happen. I'm Mark Folson, your host for today's episode, brought to you by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Latier. In this episode, we get to visit with someone I like an awful lot. We get to visit with Adam Sawyer of AB Cattle, a fourth generation Nebraska rancher who, alongside his lovely bride, is raising the fifth generation on the same ground his family has stewarded for decades. Known for producing some of the region's top Angus genetics, Adam blends proven tradition with an unwavering work ethic, focusing on cattle that thrive in real-world conditions. Beyond the ranch, Adam and his family are deeply committed to giving back and preserving the values that define rural Nebraska. This conversation is grounded in an honest look at hard work, family legacy, and an appreciation for the humility and modesty that continue to shape Nebraska. Adam Sawyer, welcome to 93 the podcast. Give folks a little bit about your background.
SPEAKER_01:Well, thanks for having me on here, Mark. I have listened to a few of your previous podcasts and love what you're doing with this, and I am very honored to get to be able to be on here with you.
SPEAKER_03:It took some arm twisting, right? You didn't really want to do this, but you kindly said your family's out of town, so you had time to do it.
SPEAKER_01:That's right. That's right. Well, yeah, I don't I don't think you had to twist too hard. It's a pretty neat opportunity, but no. Um Adam Sawyer, I'm born and raised here in Bassett, Nebraska, and my family and I operate uh a registered seed stock operation south of Bassett that we call A and B cattle, which is our sole source of livelihood. And yeah, I'm blessed with to be able to do what I love with a great family.
SPEAKER_03:So, what county do you reside in?
SPEAKER_01:So I reside in Rock County. So if you come through this part of the world, you'll see a lot of licensed plates that start with 81.
SPEAKER_03:Give listeners so the homestead where you at least where you live, if you let's assume no one has been to that part of the state before, and you're trying to describe for them over the telephone or something like what it looks like. What does it look like to walk out your front door on an average day?
SPEAKER_01:So when I walk out my front door, if I look to my right, I will see our office and sale barn and sale facility that is right along highway 183. And to the left of me will be a lot of our sail pens and uh holding areas that we have for cattle throughout the year. We don't live where my house is at, is not the main part of our operation, but from where I live at around, we have quite a bit of pasture and stuff. I love the summertime because we summer a lot of the a lot of the cows and calves uh real close to my house. And so um, yeah, it's something that my I actually live in the house that my mom and dad built and that my sister and I were raised in. And so um it's pretty neat to be able to have the opportunity to raise my two boys in the same house that I grew up in and have uh a similar portion of the same life growing up that I did.
SPEAKER_03:Adam, are you married?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I uh I've been married for 10 years this past year, and my wife and I have two very honory little boys that are very energetic and uh love to be a part of everything we do.
SPEAKER_03:I love ranch kid names. Give give listeners the first names of your boys.
SPEAKER_01:So our oldest, who turned seven this past year, his name is Augustus, very evidently after Augustus McCray from Lonesome Dove. And our youngest is named Truett.
SPEAKER_03:If I had had a boy, I have three daughters. August was the family name that I had saved up, and so I never got to use it. So when you told me your son's name was Augustus, I'm like, that's a great name.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, yeah, I uh I'm not sure how I talked my wife into being able to pull that one over on uh getting him named that way, but uh pretty fortunate that we did. And truett was a name that we had kind of picked out uh over the years and one that we had really liked, and we thought it was very unique. And now when we go to some of these little kids' rodeos and things around in our area, there's actually a couple other boys around named Truett. So it it caught on quickly, I guess.
SPEAKER_03:So does Augustus have a future as a male model, if I'm not mistaken? He was on the cover of the April 2025 issue of the Stockman magazine, wasn't he?
SPEAKER_01:Oh yeah. So I am not sure that that needs to be ran by him because I don't think he needs any uh help getting uh a bigger head or a bigger ego about those sort of things. But yeah, um, you know, and prior to that, I remember the Angus Association had been out here to um do a story and and take some pictures, and they use those photos of that little boy for a lot of advertising uh for things that they did. So he's had his picture out in front of the public a lot, and uh yeah, I uh we kind of work on ways to try to humble him from some of that. That that's not that's not normal, you know.
SPEAKER_03:Does he get his looks from his mom?
SPEAKER_01:Well, he would have to, wouldn't he?
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, yeah, thank God for her in this situation. So where'd you go to high school? Absolutely. Where'd you go to high school?
SPEAKER_01:So I went to high school here in Bassett at Rock County High School.
SPEAKER_03:About how many kids in your class?
SPEAKER_01:I think there were 17.
SPEAKER_03:And were you do were you involved in activities like rodeo?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, so I high school rodeoed, actually had the opportunity to be a state uh high school champion bulldogger as a sophomore and state all-around champion as a senior, and that involvement led me to be able to go to college on a rodeo scholarship, and I had a very good friend that told me that every interstate you cross going south, the cattle get worse and the women get better. So I went as far south as I could stand to a little town called Big Springs, Texas, to a junior college there and rodeoed for them for two years, and then transferred and got my bachelor's degree from Texas Tech University.
SPEAKER_03:Is that where you met your wife?
SPEAKER_01:No. So that story I told you about every interstate you cross going south, my wife is from Montana.
SPEAKER_03:Do you still do rode do you still do rodeo?
SPEAKER_01:You know, I'll go around to a few uh uh play days and stuff with the kids and a few select events around, but the last couple of years I haven't really devoted a lot of time to rodeo. And I still enjoy it. I still enjoy going with the kids, but uh, you know, life and and uh and businesses and things kind of get in the way of that every now and then.
SPEAKER_03:Do you think you'll encourage your boys to be to do high school rodeo?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, I will. I I guess I'm not gonna limit them on what they want to do. Um, but you know, we're sure giving them the opportunity if they want to be involved with that now. They have some little kids uh things that they can go to up here now. And uh yeah, I'd you know, I'd hope they enjoy it, but if they want to go another route, it's a lot cheaper to have a son that likes that's really good at golf.
SPEAKER_03:So um you're a pretty good golfer, aren't you?
SPEAKER_02:Uh not really. Um but you enjoy the game. Where do you play? I enjoy I I enjoy the game, yeah.
SPEAKER_01:What's yeah, we have a lot of great, we have a lot of great golf courses in this state, so it's hard not to enjoy it here.
SPEAKER_03:Yeah, Nebraska truly is a golf haven. And uh again, there's a lot of private courses, but at the same time, there's a ton of really good public courses throughout the state. One of my favorites is out in Bridgeport, right at the base of the monuments out there, got some funky holes. It's fun fun to play. Is that right? What's your favorite public course?
SPEAKER_01:Um, you know, the ones I've played, there's a fairly new one in Valentine, and that one is really fun because there's half the, you know, they've it's a 10-hole course. They had it added a bonus hole, and um, you know, there's five holes that are, you know, fair landing, good runway, and there's five holes that are in the canyons, and it's treacherous. And so there's a little bit of ease and difficulty, and uh I have enjoyed it. Uh a lot of the public courses around here, um, you know, Bassett has a very nice golf course course when you get the opportunity to go play like the Dismal or the Prairie Club, uh, those are extremely enjoyable experiences.
SPEAKER_03:Do you still prefer checking cows by horse or do you use an ATV or UTV?
SPEAKER_01:We will check them usually by ATV or UTV. Um, any movement of them, anytime we handle them. There's I'd say 99% of the time there's a horse involved. Um, or uh, all of us will be horseback. A little simpler for us.
SPEAKER_03:So, what was your first job out of college?
SPEAKER_01:So when I graduated, like a few people, I didn't know that I had all the college left out of me. And I came home and helped my folks that summer, and that'd have been like in 2011. And I applied and got a job with Farm Credit of New Mexico, and I accepted the position and moved to Roswell, New Mexico, and worked for farm credit for two years. And then I had the opportunity after two years there to move to Valentine and work for a man that was a college roommate, or not a college roommate, but that was uh in college the same time that my folks were at South Dakota State that had been an ag lending in Valentine for a long number of years. And he had grown the branch up there enough that he was needing some help. So I in the summer of 2013, I moved to Valentine and went to work for Santos State under Monty Knifer. And I was there, I was there about a little over three years full-time, and then they allowed me an opportunity to go part-time with them and devote some time to our folks' operation, and I did that for two years before coming home full-time.
SPEAKER_03:Did you have to wear a suit and tie every day?
SPEAKER_01:No, no, they're a little lax on that, thank goodness.
SPEAKER_03:So, do you use some of that finance or banking background uh in your cattle operation today? And if so, how?
SPEAKER_01:Very much so. You know, and especially in today's times, everything you do, you're dealing in such large numbers, and we are, you know, as time goes on, I mean, it's 2025, this cattle market is great, you know, people are making a lot of money in this business, but there's years when you really have to put a sharp pencil to things and and being able be able to navigate uh a lot of things financially. And uh, you know, and I don't know if that's any if that's any different than it was in the 70s or 80s, but you know, it seems like over time having some financial knowledge and knowing how to work your way around getting financed and getting um you know knowing what the other side of the desk looks like has been very beneficial to me and and having some understanding of that going into it. And the other thing you get a big understanding of is there's a lot of different programs and avenues that you can go to get things done. And uh yeah, I I utilize that knowledge very frequently. And you know, at the same point in time, it's really easy to sit behind a desk and you know punch numbers and say what works. And when you know, you get out, when you get out from behind there and and go feed cows on days like yesterday where it was a high of nine degrees, you you know, there's some balance in there, but being able to understand both sides of it, I I have gained a lot of value for that.
SPEAKER_03:So give us Adam Sawyer's view of the world economy as it relates to cattle. I mean, there are some who think cattle are or cow uh cattle guys like yourself are making too much money, we need to start importing beef. Some folks say that's the packer making the money. What's your philosophy? Where what do you think is going on?
SPEAKER_01:To be frankly honest, you might have to get into depth of it. I think you'd probably need to visit with somebody that's maybe a little bit more in tune with everything that goes on every day uh within this industry because there's a lot of facets. Um you know the nuts and bolts of it from this sector of it is that we are dealing with extremely low domestic numbers in the United States, and I don't think that that is totally 100% drought related. Um you know, we've seen a lot of people that have gotten to the age that they have exited this business, and those places are getting rented out or getting arrangements for young people to go in, but the number of young people that are entering the business, as everybody well knows, is not very large. And so I don't know that we are gonna see a huge rebuild in this cow herd. They talk about parts of the world where there's a lot of heifer retention going on and and uh you know herds are rebuilding. I in my little neck of the woods, I think there's some people that are trying, um, but I don't see it happening. I don't see us getting this cow herd back. So, you know, as far as domestically, I think we're gonna be short numbers for some time. Um, you know, when you couple that with where we're at in the industry, it's no different than we're all, you know, in the state of Nebraska. A lot of us are talking about the fact that they closed a packing plant in in Lexington. And yes, it's a it's a big disrupt uh for all of us in the state of Nebraska and in the entire in the entire United States in the beef industry. But at the same point in time, you know, that facet of things and that facet of the business, they have to make money too. And if they're dealing with shortened supplies, it's hard for them to keep the chains rolling, right?
SPEAKER_03:All at a time when the demand for high quality beef has never been greater and the the quality of the beef currently being marketed has never been better. I mean, the Angus industry alone now, you know, really tracks marbling, and marbling is a huge component of that taste and that flavor and that value. And the the meat that you find at the local supermarket has never been better in the in my entire lifetime. It's it's really good stuff.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah. People watch it. And so we're yeah, and we're we're and you know, I think too, another thing, you know, people are wondering, I you know, was that a sale today? And I had a couple people ask, they said, well, how long do you think this does? What's what's your what's your crystal ball on this? You know, kind of just a joking down. I, you know, honestly, I don't know. But I think we're dealing with some different variables this go around. I mean, you know, through the 80s and the early 90s, which would have been prior to my my knowledge of what an awareness of what was going on and my involvement at all, you know, beef was not the most popular item. And there were groups and organizations that were coming after what the what the beef industry was doing. And you couple that with just like what you said, the quality experience at that point in time, it was inconsistent, it wasn't very good. I think we've taken that factor out of it. The consistency of our product is a lot better. We can provide a lot of really, really good eating experiences for people. And you're starting to see now that there's a lot more um foodies out there and influencers on social media that are really excited about the ability to have good, wholesome uh beef consumption, you know, whether they go try it at this steak house or they go try all these burger joints. And I think that I really truly believe that our domestic um and international uh demand for our product is really in as good a spot as it's ever been. Um you know, I unfortunately I do not make it out of Little Bass, Nebraska as much as I might like to, but it's amazing to me to go to some of these cities and and see the things popping up that are, you know, a little niche burger joint or a brewery with a with a with a specialty burger, or you know, if you ever get the chance to go to a 801 Chop House or Ruth Christ or one of them, and you watch some of those people take pride from the person that sits you down to the to the chef coming out to see how your meal is, when they take pride in trying to make sure that you're gonna have a quality eating experience, those people are all helping us sell our product. And that is so fun to see. And I, you know, I think we're in a better time for that than we've ever been. So, you know, you couple that back into the to the big picture. I don't, I don't have a firm forecast for what's going on, but we've got incredibly low domestic numbers, and our demand is through the roof. So it's hard telling what's going to happen, but I I feel pretty good about our position and things, a lot better than I think some some of the generations before may have had the opportunity for.
SPEAKER_03:Let's segue into your family operation, A B Cattle. When was it founded?
SPEAKER_01:I actually got a re uh fresher on our family history. A and B Cattle, which would have been Arlen and Becky Sawyer, or hence for the A and B, which would be my folks, would have started A B Cattle on their own in 1990. Um to back up on that a little bit. So my sister and I would be the fourth generation of Sawyers to be Angus breeders. And my great grandfather and my my On the Sawyer side, they originated around Howard, South Dakota. And my great-grandfather bought his first Angus in 1917. And he got his American Angus Association membership on Christmas Eve of 1919. And then my grandfather Richard would have been a young man in the 1930s. And of course, at that point in time in the United States, we were going through what was known at that time as the Great Depression. And we were in farming was was tough. And so they had this herd of registered Angus cattle, and he had been showing a little bit. So he had the idea to go on the rail car taking cattle around the country showing because at that point in time the premium comparative comparative to what the cost of living and the cost of production was at that point was pretty good. And so he actually supported the farm, their farm in Howard, South Dakota, through the depression, by premiums from showing cattle around the country. And he'd jump on the train there in Howard and go around out to the West Coast to all the state fairs in Chicago and Denver and all those places. And so he ended up having five children, one of which is my father, Arlen, and he married a young lady that came from an Angus family in Iowa. And after their marriage, they moved down to the Bassett, Nebraska area. I believe that was in the late 70s, to manage an Angus operation for a man that had just started up around here. And over time they were they were able to buy a little piece of ground and eventually get started on their own and kind of work their way from there.
SPEAKER_03:So your family's operation won a century award from the American Angus Association in 2020, meaning at least you can you can trace your history back a hundred years back to at least 1920, 1917, somewhere in there?
SPEAKER_01:Yep, yep, that 19. So we got it in in uh 2020, um, due to the fact that they'd had a membership since that Christmas Eve of 1919.
SPEAKER_03:So what lessons from your dad or your mom stick with you the most today?
SPEAKER_01:You know, my father passed away unexpectedly in 2019. And uh, you know, I remember how old were you then? Oh what that would have been six years ago now, so I'd have been just I'd been like 31. Okay. And uh, you know, the you ask about what you do. I remember that first year afterwards, and of course, then we got into the spring of 2020 and and we had COVID. And I remember, you know, our bull sale is the first Thursday in April, so COVID was just we were just in the thick of it of shutdowns and everything else. And and I'll never forget, you know, you start visiting with bull customers and everything, and they go, Oh, we're not scared of COVID, we're coming anyway. And then to couple that, the morning of our bull sale, we had a nice storm. And I remember I got up on the block and I looked out there, and there were 40 people there, and that included the ladies that came from town to help us serve lunch. And I wanted to crawl behind that auction block and just cry. Oh, it was a miserable experience. But you know, I remember my dad always just saying, you know, you can't always control what's coming, but you've got to hang in there. And you know, we survived that. Our our customer base was really, really good to us, and they, you know, they had ever other avenues of of getting things done, and and we got we got through that time period, and you know, um if you don't if you don't hang in there and hang on to what you're doing and keep moving forward, you know, it's easy to get caught in things and try to get behind, but the the reward at the end of it is pretty great.
SPEAKER_03:So a motto of mine is worry about what you can control, and I have to remind myself of that daily, but the rest of stuff you you have no control over, right? So focus on what you can control and the rest just kind of handles itself.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and I think too, you know, control work on what you can control, and then when you really get a handle on things, if you can try to prepare yourself the best you can for some of the things that you can't control, it's amazing how much easier things go.
SPEAKER_03:So, how many years have you have you been holding your bull sale on the first Thursday in April?
SPEAKER_01:So, as A and B cattle in 2025, we would have celebrated our 35th bull sale.
SPEAKER_03:Is it held on the ranch?
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, we have a sale facility here on our place, and that's where we've been holding it. I think they built this sale barn in 1995, and we've had all their sales here ever since.
SPEAKER_03:How much so did things change in 2020 as far as how much how many of your sales are online versus live in person, or was it already already trending towards a lot of online purchasers?
SPEAKER_01:It was trending that way a little bit. Obviously, in in 2020, and this was a funny statistic for me then. I remember in 2020 they kept telling us, well, there's some sales where there are literally like five people there or whatever, you know, and still that year, a third of our bulls sold online, the rest of them all sold either in the seats or through orders, or people on the phone or using other mechanisms to get them bought. That that one kind of surprised me. But yeah, I think 2020 really gave people a lot more comfort for the internet and using that as a selection tool. And you know, at the end of the day, we told everybody at that point in time that you know it satisfaction is guaranteed. So if you get something that you're unhappy with, it's not a not an issue at all. And and uh, you know, and I think that really placed a lot of comfort with people that you know, even if it was something that maybe didn't work out the way they wanted it to, that they're gonna get taken care of.
SPEAKER_03:So for those who are present for the live sale, do you still run them through a sale ring or do you do a video?
SPEAKER_01:We do run them through the sale ring, yeah. Yeah, and part of it too. I always say when my folks first started having bull sales, they had one of the first bull sales of the year, and now we have one of the later sales in the year, and we've never changed our sale date. And I think a lot of change has been these cattle have a lot more growth, and there is a lot more people that are short on labor. So people have started calving a little later, and I'm coming around to the fact that the reason we think it's still really important to run them through the ring is that we know that there are a lot of people that are in some level of calving at the time of our bull sale. And so, you know, they may not be able to have the time they want to devote to going through the bulls and looking through them as good. So we want to be able to give them an avenue to see what they're buying and see how they react in the ring because it'd be amazed. It amazes me every year the people that come up to us and be like, Well, I didn't get you know my one, two, or three picks bought, and I'd kind of noticed this bull, and he got in the ring and he kind of stood there, and I liked the way he looked, so I bought him. And so we we we find a lot of value in still running them through the ring.
SPEAKER_03:So uh looking through your old uh sales reports, you sell about 150 bulls at that April sale. How do you go about selecting the 150 who gets old?
SPEAKER_01:Well, it usually starts at weaning time, and we will go through and get get weights on everything and come back and compile those and make sure that everything that we leave for bulls is gonna be adequate enough because if we don't feel if if they're you know they need to be exceptional at that point in time in their life, um, or else we have a good relationship with a guy that feeds for us, and we will cut the ones that are less desirable and we feed those. And so at that point in time, we make a pretty hard cut on them, and usually somewhere around, you know, between 25 and 40 percent, somewhere in there, we cut and and we make the selection process then, and that's both spring and fall. And then usually at yearling time we make another cut on them at that point in time of you know what what we want to run through a sale or what would maybe be better to keep and let grow for a little bit to sell private banks. And uh so kind of we're always always kind of trying to keep keep things uh keep the quality standard high.
SPEAKER_03:So what goes into getting them ready for that sale?
SPEAKER_01:You know, when we as soon as we start weaning them, we start getting those cattle used to seeing people. Um, it's really important to us how these cattle handle. And so we want them comfortable being around people. Disposition's a big, big barometer of ours. And so we try to get the bulls where they handle good. And I always tell people the first time we run them through to weigh them, between now and the time I've gonna load them on the trailer to deliver them to somebody's house, they've got to go down this shooting alleyway or be handled 10 different times. And so we try to make every one of them an enjoyable experience. And we'll go through that here in another, you know, we're a couple days from New Year's. Right after the first of the year, we'll start working them. We'll run them through and freeze brand them uh for permanent identification. Or a lot of the customers that we have have sure really like that addition over the past seven, eight years. We'll start clipping them the end of January, and middle of February, we'll run them through and ultrasound them. The end of February, first part of March, we'll run them through and we'll picture and video them all. The middle of March, we'll run them through and start semen testing bulls and checking out their bullet factories. And uh about a couple weeks prior to the sale, we moved all the bulls up here to my house, which is where the sale facility's at, for a little easier viewing of them. And we run all the bulls through the ring for a practice run about a week ahead of the sale so they know where the outgates are at and know their way in and out, so we're not taking up too much time on sale day. And then yeah, it's you know. No, I wish it was some some people around here wish it was that easy, but you know, and I I do enjoy all the all the avenues that we go through with them. It's it's part of the enjoyment of them and being able to watch them grow and uh develop. And you know, it's I always tell people in the business that we're in, you better really enjoy it because if you don't, it's excruciating and it's a lot of labor, and it can, you know, it can sour you pretty quick.
SPEAKER_03:Do you ever take any uh wagers among family members as far as what the top bowl, which one's gonna be the top?
SPEAKER_01:No. Um my son actually has one in our bull calves right now that's kind of a standout, and uh he's been trying to wager some of those same questions of what we think it's gonna bring. And uh I think he's now a little concerned because I told him I said, Well, he's got a lot of hoops to jump through uh yet. But you know what, in all seriousness, though, we get you know, when we get to that time, you have favorites and you have cows that you like, and and when you're around them all the time, you get bulls that you're really that you're really high on, and some that you choose to use back in your program. And uh so, you know, do we wage or no? But it kind of depends, you know, on what people are needing at that point in time, and you know, trying to trying to find the uh the seat for every saddle.
SPEAKER_03:So your operation is a little bit old school, but a lot of new school. Tell folks about how you use uh artificial insemination and embryo transfer for uh to improve genetics.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, so every female on our place, commercial or registered, will get run through a chute at some point in time in their breeding season. And uh we do have some commercial cows that we will stick embryos in for for embryo transfer, and all those are ones that we've raised. We don't outsource any of our recepts um for embryo production, and then all the registered cows will get AI's every spring, and most everything now that we do for AIing is on a um synchroniz of some sort.
SPEAKER_03:So do you you've got you've got donor dams that you've said the these are the queens of the herd, and we're going to maximize their potential by seeing how many calves we can get out of them.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, uh some we do we do do a fair amount of of embryo transfer work. And I like on our donor cows, we'll identify females, but very few of our females will ever be pulled out of production and just strictly be a donor cow. Uh we really like to pull those cows out, flush them, and kick them right back out and get them bred again and keep them within their within their calving cycle and keep them productive. That's really important to us. And we're pretty strict on what we identify as donor females. I've got a rule here that to ever try to extrapolate embryos out of one, they need to have weaned at least three calves and have good production on that, no matter what their EPDs are or or you know anything. I think it takes that amount of time before you truly identify females that are productive. So, you know, that probably doesn't ever put us on the the cutting edge of what the EPDs read, but we feel it's pretty valuable to getting a cowherd that's going to have some longevity and be around and and have some true real production to them.
SPEAKER_03:So in 2026, when will you start calving?
SPEAKER_01:I'm guessing by the end uh last week in January, we'll be starting. You know, we breed our heifers to start calving there the first week in February. And so by the you know, good old purebred Angus heifers will start calving uh week to 10, you know, week to 10 days early. So we'll be starting to calve by the end of January and um be pretty thick through February. And we, you know, we leave bulls out for 60 days in all groups, so you know we can still have calves in March and April, but it's not near as we don't get near as many in that time frame.
SPEAKER_03:So tradition is to start calving that early. Why? Why do people still do that? It's crazy potential wet weather in Nebraska during that time period.
SPEAKER_01:You know, I ask myself that every year. A little there there's a couple different reasons. And so in the state of Nebraska, a lot of people, their grass is starting to come available, you know, and be ready to kick cows out on grass, you know, I would say realistically, from the middle of May to the first of June. And one goal of ours is we want to have serviced all those cows and AI them before we take them to grass. And so, you know, we have to, we have grass and there are quite a few different places. Our ranch is not all contiguous, and and you know, our cows will have to travel to go to summer grass in some way, shape, or form. So we kind of want to be done AIing before we go to that point, but we don't want to hold them up from going to grass because usually by that time we're tired of feeding them and the cows are tired of eating what we're feeding them, so they're ready to be out on it. And I think too, for the nature of our business, those bulls need to be old enough to have maturity and development to be able to be sold to go service cows. And we have found that you know, starting to calve the first of February, because we don't put any bulls on our bull sale that are born after the 15th of March. And within our development system, we think they need to be that at least that old to have to be mature enough and be developed enough to go out and breed cows. And we do sell, we've we cal to your point. We do calve about a third of our cows in late August and September and October. And that is purely to your point of it's a lot easier and it's not very cold, and I don't have very many frozen eared calves in the fall, and they're a little easier to manage from a labor standpoint.
SPEAKER_03:Have you had to bring some of those January calves into your house to thaw them out?
SPEAKER_01:Yes, I have. You you keep track of Facebook pretty good, don't you?
SPEAKER_03:Well, I just it's not all you, right? It's a common fact uh that it gets so darn cold in the last two or three winters here in Nebraska. There's been cold spells in January, February that are just like below zero consistently for a time period. I mean, they do those calves need to be brought in, especially right after they're born.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, and you just I mean, really, in all honesty, you just live with them. And um I don't know. You know, it's you see a lot of operations that are going to um doing an older bull uh development deal where they calve in the warmer months, maybe they might calve in April and May and some of that. And I mean, obviously that's why we calve in the fall, just because of weather and being able to offer offer an age advantage to bull. Um from a true production standpoint and and having some care about the cows, being able to calf twice a year really teaches us a lot about the cattle. And so um one thing that I've always told people is you know, if I have anything to say about it and I can have help to do these things, we'll always calves calve in the spring or a good portion of them in the spring, because you then it's easy to identify the calves that are good mothers and the calves that have are vigorous at birth and are resistant, you know. At that point in time of year, I mean, we are challenging their immune system like none other. And then when you see the ones that come on the out on the other side of that and do really well, I think you've really you've really identified some that have a really you know strong place in this world and in this business.
SPEAKER_03:Adam, you and your family have given back in many ways, whether it be to the American Angus Association or you and your involvement, even serving as chair of the Nebraska Brand Committee. What uh what drives that spirit of uh giving back to folks in the industry or the state or your community?
SPEAKER_01:Well, I think you have to be involved in some way, shape, or form. And and uh I remember being able to enjoy a lot of time with you on the Nebraska Brand Committee. And I and you know, I think it's important to have some involvement because it's easy for Us to sit here and complain about things that are going on. But I've always had the viewpoint if you're not willing to step up and be involved, it's really, really hard to have a huge complaint about it. And um, you know, I think you can help shape direction on things um and and and help things move forward. And it's good to get back. I there's I think about all the things, and my father was a board member on the on the American Angus Association and served two terms. And it's important uh to have your viewpoint and try to represent people that uh view things the same way you do and give your part of the world a voice. I think that's extremely important and try to give back and try to leave it better than how you found it.
SPEAKER_03:So, Adam, uh something we ask everyone who appears on this podcast, do you get one word? What's your one word that to you best describes and explains this great place in which you were born and raised, where you became a banker and now run A and B cattle uh near Bassett, Nebraska? What's your one word for Nebraska?
SPEAKER_01:I would say my one word for the state of Nebraska is simple. It's very simple if you're in the beef industry to love operating here. And I'm not saying there aren't some challenges, but we have access to great auction markets, we have access to great feed, we have access to great cattle. And um, you know, this is a great place to to raise your family and be involved, be involved in agriculture. And it's just it's having lived in some other states and married a married a a gal from Montana, and you know, having seen other parts of the world and some of those struggles that they go through in those those areas, it's just a lot simpler here as far as how things go and and and most of all the people. It's simple how good the people are here. It's just it makes things not difficult at all.
SPEAKER_03:Adam, thanks for joining us.
SPEAKER_01:Yeah, thank you, Mark. I appreciate the opportunity to enjoy this episode.
SPEAKER_03:Consider subscribing on Apple, Spotify, or whatever your favorite podcast app is. Share it with someone who might find it of interest. And please keep on listening as we release additional episodes on Nebraska, its great communities, Nebraska's number one industry, agriculture, and the folks who make it happen.
SPEAKER_00:Thanks. This has been 93, the podcast, sponsored by Nebraska's law firm, Rembolt Ludkey.
