Developing Strong Veterinarian & Client Relationships

 

Shaye Koester (00:04):

Hey, Hey, it's Shaye Koester and I'm your host for Casual Cattle Conversations, where we are talking about all topics related to ranching, through sharing the stories and practices of different ranchers and their operations. We are building a community and fostering innovation within the ranching industry through this podcast and my social media pages. So to be a more involved member of this community, please go check out those pages and join the conversation. Follow @cattleconvos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube to join in on my live events and the discussions about each episode and other topics that relate to you and your operation. Now, if you'd like to become a greater part of this podcast that is impacting all 50 states, as well as several other countries, please be sure to reach out to me via email direct message, or you can find the necessary contact information for me by clicking the link in my social media bios, or go to my website, casualcattleconversations.podbean.com. But with that, thanks for tuning in. I'm glad to have you here and let's hear who our guest is today.

Shaye Koester (01:23):

Alrighty folks, thanks for hopping on again. If you're a loyal follower, I appreciate you as always, if you're new. Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for trying out the show and let me know your thoughts. So that goes for everyone. But with that today, we are going to be talking about developing a strong veterinary client relationship now for this topic, because it is so important to have that relationship we all need or well need, or are working with a veterinarian of some sort for our herds. So to bring on two very experienced individuals, I brought on doctors, Troy Dutton, and Joseph Hochhalter. Now these two individuals have been practicing for many years, cover a large span of ground and many counties to serve many clients. They have experience in large and small animals, and they really do a fantastic job of talking about why it's important to have that strong relationship with your veterinarian and how you can build that.

Shaye Koester (02:29):

So with that, I am going to let them do the talking and we are going to quick, thank our sponsor.

Alltech (02:37):

When your cattle aren't healthy, you worry, and you stress Alltech offers a variety of solutions for healthier cattle and ultimately producer peace of mind. Alltech feed additives are backed by science and real customer success. Whether this means fixing a problem with calf scours, combating mycotoxins and feed stuffs, improving pregnancy rates, or even just getting a few extra pounds at weaning, Alltech's analytical services and full line of feed additives, which compliment both conventional and niche market programs have been proven to deliver profitable results for your operation visit alltech.com to learn more.

Shaye Koester (03:15):

Okay, so to start off, what are each of your backgrounds in the ranching industry?

Troy Dutton (03:20):

I'll start first. I grew up in Western Oregon on a small cow calf operation. And so that's my background. I was born and raised there before I became a vet.

Joe Hochhalter (03:31):

I grew up in the south central North Dakota on a small cattle ranch down there, diversified operation. That's kind of how I got me interested in doing what I'm doing.

Shaye Koester (03:45):

Awesome. So what do you do now?

Joe Hochhalter (03:49):

So Dr. Dutton and I are the owners of Steele Veterinary Clinic. It's a five doctor practice in central North Dakota. We serve cow calf producers and some feedlot stocker operations in this part of the state. We serve clients in almost seven counties. We cover an 80 mile radius from Steele here and then we've got a growing small animal segment of our business as well.

Shaye Koester (04:22):

So how long have each of you been practicing then?

Troy Dutton (04:26):

So I started practice back in April of 2000. So I've been here since, so that makes it over 21 years now.

Joe Hochhalter (04:35):

Yep and then joined the practice with Dr. Scherbenske and Dr. Dutton in 2008.

Shaye Koester (04:37):

Okay. So within your practice, you know, you've talked about mostly large animal, but a lot of growing small animal stuff. I know there was a lot of each the summer I worked here, but how closely are you working with those cow calf producers and feedlots?

Troy Dutton (04:55):

So I'll say take that question just because I've been here a little bit longer if that's okay. So when we first started, we did a lot of stuff kind of like emergency work and things like that, individual animal care and still do a lot of things for a lot of people like that. But over the years, we really transitioned to working with more of those cow calf producers backgrounders, sale barns and some of the feedlots we have in the area. We worked with them pretty closely on their herd health programs. Um and we like to say, we start at the calf and get them to the cow. And obviously not everything stays and goes back into the cow herd and we help get those calves to market. So we've really worked with them on their health programs and help utilize and maximize their efficiency in their calves.

Shaye Koester (05:43):

Awesome. So those are herd health programs with the rancher, with the background or with the feedlot all through the supply chain?

Joe Hochhalter (05:51):

Kind of all segments. Yeah. So I mean, you know, each client of course needs different things and different things. And so, you know, it's kind of a custom fit I would say for each person, you know, there are some clients that are pretty comfortable making some of those decisions on their own and others come to us and ask us every year what's new this year, what do I need to do differently? So, we kind of try to either change or modify things to address problems that they may have had during the past year. And kind of maybe forecast a little bit for problems that they may encounter in the future. You know, like this year, for instance it's been pretty dry here in central North Dakota. And so coming out of spring calving season, we talked to a lot of clients about, "Hey, it's going to be dry. We need to worry about anthrax and blue-green algae. We need to worry about these kinds of things." And hopefully we help them make some decisions about managing their cow herd inventory and herd health plan, you know, the whole gamete, I guess.

Troy Dutton (06:51):

I would agree with that and unfortunately this year we had to help with some of the culling decisions people had to make because it is so dry in our practice area. And like Dr. Hochhalter said every client's different and some just like a little help and others like more so we customize that to each of our clients.

Shaye Koester (07:09):

So when you're working with these for health programs, is that something where you set up a time to meet with them individually or is that just kind of when they come in and then you just kind of start the conversation there when you randomly see them and they are coming in for a product?

Troy Dutton (07:23):

Well Shaye that's a great question because every client is different about that. Some might do it when they come in and visit with one of our veterinarians, like Joe said, there's five veterinarians here. Or it depends on what segment they're in so some come out and set up programs to do everything for their herd health and everything from how to get vaccinations and proper vaccine handling and storage and all of those fun things. So every client's a little bit different like that.

Troy Dutton (07:50):

So we do some of each. Some of it's done here at the front counter, in front of the cooler, a lot of it is done chute side. When we're out there fertility testing bulls or something we're going through those protocols and they're asking questions and we're seeing how things went this spring and trying to help them out throughout the summer as far as what they need to do and how to prepare for a fall.

Joe Hochhalter (08:10):

I think along with that, it's nice for us to have multiple kinds of points of contact with them. So yeah, a lot of stuff does happen at the front counter here when they come in and they go, "You know what we are working calves. What do I need?" A lot of it does happen chute side because all of a sudden we're doing pregnancy checking or ultrasounding and we're finding out we have more opens than usual and we ask "Okay, what happened?" So we start maybe some of those conversations chute side and say, "Okay, let's come into the clinic, let's look at the data and let's figure out where failed. What do we need to do differently? What you need to do better next year?" Again, I think that's important to have multiple points of contact. Sometimes it's in church on Sunday and you have somebody that is asking you, "Hey, having this problem, what do you think?" I think that's the big thing. It's not always a set scheduled time, but it's various points throughout the production year.

Shaye Koester (09:07):

So what would you say are the main benefits of having a strong relationship between the veterinarian and the client and creating those herd health protocols?

Troy Dutton (09:18):

First of all, I think it's really important that we do work those times really well whether it's chute side, or we set up a time or have those multiple points of contact. If there are issues whether it's reproductive issues or calf health issues, or any of those issues that come up throughout the year, we're working with them. We already have that background, that knowledge. So it really helps us dig into that and find out the answers quicker, versus some of those clients that maybe don't think they require that assistance and stuff. So we can save them a lot of time and money by having that knowledge already up front versus trying to figure out all those things about vaccinations and feed management, stuff like that after something happens. So we have some background ahead of time going forward if they do have an issue, we get to the answers a lot quicker and usually end up saving them some dollars down the road. I think every situation is different as far as how much you save each client.

Joe Hochhalter (10:15):

Yeah, definitely. And you know, it is nice to have that interaction and have been out to some of these operations. And when we work closely with people and we get a couple of opportunities to get out to the ranch and then you go, "Oh, well, we're dealing with problem x. These are your different options to manage that problem, but this was not going to work for you because of your facilities or because of whatever." We know multiple things about their operation, how they put up their feed and all these certain things that maybe help us to tailor solutions for their problems, wouldn't you say?

Troy Dutton (10:51):

Yes.

Shaye Koester (10:52):

Well, and you did a great job kind of going into my next question. Or I was curious about, you know, how does this impact the profitability? And you talked about how in the long run, it can save some dollars there.

Troy Dutton (11:02):

So ever since I came in, you know and really Dr. Scherbenske and Dr. Moss started the practice so it's been here since 1967 and then Dr. Scherbenske was on board and since retired. But I think the big thing we view ourselves as is we're just not a bill to our clients. We consider our good clients, we consider an asset and we're kind of in partnership with them. We want to make sure you're using the right vaccines, doing things properly, not over vaccinating, have a strategic deworming program, have a good reproductive program and most importantly have a good feeding program because all those things help. So we're really trying to partner with our producers to make them profitable. Because I just don't want to see Shaye here right now, I want to see her kids take over years from now. So, you know, there are a lot of multi-generational farms and we try to help do that. Obviously there's other things that play in and out, but we really want to try and help those and become an asset to those producers and I think most of our good producers, and a majority of our clients would view us as that.

Joe Hochhalter (12:03):

Yeah, certainly, you know, there are clients who will jokingly, I hope, say, "You know, you guys are here just to sell me a product or whatever." But in all honesty, our success that we've had here is because our clients are successful and we've been fortunate in the short time I've been here to get the opportunity to work with some really progressive clients. They kind of push us to be more progressive ourselves and advance our services and whatever. But you know, like Troy said, we try to be an asset to those clients and hopefully they view us that way, not in the expense column, but in the asset column.

Shaye Koester (12:42):

Well, absolutely it's good to view the vet clinic as more than a bill because of the impact it does have on your herd. So you've touched on it throughout this interview process, but what would you say are the main components of that solid relationship between the veterinarian and rancher, backgrounder, or feedlot?

Troy Dutton (13:02):

I think the main components are that you have to be really honest with each other. There's sometimes whether it's a cow calf producer or backgrounder or a feedlot situation, you know, that communication has gotta be there and you have to be real honest with each other because there are times that people find it hard to say something. You don't like beating around the bush and you have to really say it in a nice way about all that's going on so we get to the problem. I think communication is key and, and having that willingness to share knowledge, you know, what do they do for us to be able to ask questions? I think that was just huge. We can talk about all those other things, but we've got to have that open communication right away and that trust in each other, we're there to help them. I think that's probably the most important thing. Dr. Hochhalter can probably expand a little bit on that but to me, that's what were it starts.

Joe Hochhalter (13:50):

Yeah, definitely. I think it's important that we are in a small rural community. The people that we're helping are our clients of course, and they're integral to the success of our business, but we're also on church council with them, in other organizations, and we see them around town. So it is a community thing as well. I think the other thing that has been kind of part of our success is just to remain available. We have the good fortune to have five veterinarians on staff here and so it makes some of the after hours and on-call fee; a little bit manageable for us. But you know I think part of the reason we are successful is our clients can call us anytime of the day on a weekend, on a holiday and they'll reach somebody here. You know, certainly maybe it's not the time that we want to be called in on the weekend or overnight. But our opinion is if somebody is going to be calling it that time, it's because they nee help. There's a lot of other places they'd rather be at two o'clock in the morning than in the clinic at Steele.

Joe Hochhalter (14:56):

So just being available and being accountable too to our clients. Certainly we fail and we make mistakes. And being honest with those clients about some of those shortcomings and learning from them and moving forward from that, I think those are all things that have kind of contributed to some of the success here.

Shaye Koester (15:16):

Oh, absolutely. So kind of going on the opposite side of that now, what are the biggest mistakes you can make with that relationship from a client perspective?

Troy Dutton (15:25):

You know, it's really important to have that relationship and just be really super honest with us. If you did something different or you changed something up or changed a protocol on your vaccinations or skipped something or forgot to do something, let us know because it's so important to us to help you resolve that situation. That's one of the things we struggle with was some of our clients that maybe don't utilize our services all the time is, you know, they're almost ashamed to tell us they did something different or something like that.

Troy Dutton (15:52):

If you are really super honest with us we're going to get to the bottom of that issue a lot quicker. If we can cut to the chase and just figure out what's going on and we can build on that relationship and get that issue resolved quicker. So I think that's so important to be there. And the other thing I think is really important is if you're having concerns or issues you need to call early. I find that over the years people are embarrassed of the situation or they had too many sick calves, or maybe they were treating more in a pen than they should've or had more death loss but if you call early, we can help you mitigate some of those things and try to figure out what's going on. Whether you're dealing with somness or mycoplasma, or maybe it's a vitamin mineral deficiency that's causing those issues. So it's really important to call us early and be really honest about what's going on.

Joe Hochhalter (16:39):

Yeah. I think those are all good things. Yeah. The more information we have, the easier it is to come up with a diagnosis or come up with some kind of plan and manage the problem because it's, it's easier to try and fix things on front end than come in in the middle of a wreck and try and straighten them out.

Shaye Koester (16:58):

Oh, absolutely. So kind of wrapping up. Is there anything else you'd like to add?

Troy Dutton (17:03):

I'll just say what Dr. Hochhalter said, we're in the community, we're here, we're available all the time. And I think that's, what is good about having a, working with your local veterinarian? We're here all the time. We're with you. We have someone on call 24/7/365 and that's really important to have that resource available because cows don't know. Things don't happen eight to five, Monday through Friday. They happen on Easter and they happen on Thanksgiving and stuff, but you we're here and available to help our clients and our clients see the value in that when they talk to friends who don't have that opportunity in other parts of the world. So that's really important to have that relationship with your local veterinarian because they are really here to help you and partner with you and make your operation successful.

Joe Hochhalter (17:49):

Yeah. And I would totally agree with that. And we want to be that resource to people. I mean, I we have people that come in and ask for advice or, you know, specifically let's say product or whatever odd thing and say, "I should remember from last year. And I just don't remember." It's like, you know, farmers and ranchers have so many things to keep track of and whether it's, you know stuff going on with the farm and ranch, activities that their kids have in high school, this, that the next thing, what chemical are they spraying on my soybeans? You know, we can't expect them to remember every drug that shouldn't be used for every situation or what your vaccine protocol should be. We try to be open and honest with our clients that that's what we're here for. We want to provide that service. We want to be available for you guys and do things like our annual meeting to provide client education and keep our producers kind of on the leading edge. That's what we're open for anyway.

Shaye Koester (18:47):

Awesome. Thank you very much for being on the show today.

Joe Hochhalter (18:50):

Thanks for having us.

Troy Dutton (18:50):

Thank you Shaye.

Shaye Koester (18:52):

And that's a wrap on that one. Folks. I hope you enjoyed that episode and really gained a lot of insight and maybe are going to set up a time to visit with your local veterinarian and see what you can do to better work together. Or if you already have that, I hope you could relate to and feel some pride in knowing that you are doing things right already. So with that, please be sure to give me that like share comment, please, please, please go comment on some of my social media posts. I know it might seem like an extra step, but I'd love to hear your thoughts, but also if you have further questions, questions that go deeper than the conversation we had today, or if you would like to engage with someone else who has already commented, that would be outstanding. But with that, thank you for hopping on and I'll catch you on the next one.

Alltech (19:44):

When your cattle aren't healthy, you worry and you stress. Alltech offers a variety of solutions for healthier cattle and ultimately producer peace of mind. Alltech feed additives are backed by science and real customer success. Whether this means fixing a problem with calf scours, combating mycotoxins in feedstuffs, improving pregnancy rates, or even just getting a few extra pounds at weaning, Alltech's analytical services and full line of feed additives, which compliment both conventional and niche market programs have been proven to deliver profitable results for your operation. Visit alltech.com to learn more.

 

Raising Seedstock vs. Commercial Cattle: Management Differences

 Shaye Koester (00:04):

Hey, Hey, it's Shaye Koester and I'm your host for Casual Cattle Conversations, where we are talking about all topics related to ranching, through sharing the stories and practices of different ranchers and their operations. We are building a community and fostering innovation within the ranching industry through this podcast and my social media pages. So, to be a more involved member of this community, please go check out those pages and join the conversation. Follow cattleconvos on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and YouTube to join in on my live events and the discussions about each episode and other topics that relate to you and your operation. Now, if you'd like to become a greater part of this podcast that is impacting all 50 states, as well as several other countries, please be sure to reach out to me via email, direct message, or you can find the necessary contact information for me by clicking the link in my social media bios, or go to my website, casualcattleconversations.podbean.com. But with that, thanks for tuning in. I'm glad to have you here and let's hear who our guest is today.

Shaye Koester (01:23):

Alrighty folks, thank you for tuning in for another episode. You asked for it and you got it. There was a request sent out a few months ago, asking for an episode on what are the differences in managing seedstock versus commercial cattle. So today on the show I brought on Steve Koester. Now, if you've been following this show for a while or have gone back and watched the beginning episodes, you know that Steve was on the beginning episode where he discusses starting a ranch from scratch, but today he's going to dive into and share his experience of transitioning from a commercial operation to a seedstock operation. We talk about the challenges, both operations face, how they can be managed differently and similarly, and Steve really just shares his honest experience and insight. At the end he really offers up some advice on what to do and really keep in mind before you start to transition or are thinking about the transition.

Shaye Koester (02:27):

So with that, thank you for tuning into the episode. And let's hear from today's sponsor.

Performance Beef (02:34):

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Shaye Koester (03:27):

So to start off, if you could be any animal on your ranch, which one would you be?

Steve Koester (03:32):

Why? Is this a trick question?

Steve Koester (03:36):

If I could be any animal on the ranch? I would probably be my old dog. My old dog is retired, has it pretty easy, pretty much lays around, comes out and helps once in a while and has the best life ever. She gets to lay in the air conditioning too.

Shaye Koester (03:57):

That's the one right beside you?

Steve Koester (03:59):

That would be the dog laying beside me at the moment. (laughter).

Shaye Koester (04:00):

Okay. So now that we have that covered, what is your background in ranching? I have a feeling you've been at it for a while if you want to be the old retired dog.

Steve Koester (04:14):

Well, the back hurts once in a while. Yes. I'm the fourth generation. Not necessarily on this place. I grew up three miles north of where we are, but I didn't travel too far. I made it a whopping three miles away. I did work off the place once in a while. In my younger years, I was helping my dad and I worked for different companies that had been moving around the United States a little bit during the winter.

Shaye Koester (04:47):

Where those companies like ag companies or what were you doing there?

Steve Koester (04:51):

They were more in the factory-type business. If a factory went out of business the company I worked for was hired to go and move the equipment and get it shipped. So I had quite a bit of work to tear down. After that, I moved home and made it pretty permanent here. We bought this place down here and then when we did that, it was wide open. We, at that point, when we moved down here, we were a hundred percent commercial cattle with some farming and then transitioned into the seedstock side.

Shaye Koester (05:36):

So you mentioned going home and helping your dad. Did you grow up on a commercial operation? What was the operation that you grew up on like? You said you're the fourth generation.

Steve Koester (05:44):

Yeah, my great grandfather moved here, I guess. I don't remember the year. That's kind of sad of me, but a long time ago and I came back and helped my dad and in return, I got to use some of his equipment to help me get started and we shared some pastures and some cattle and some bulls, and then just worked our way up from there. So, that's just kind of how we got going.

Shaye Koester (06:14):

So can you touch a little bit more on the operation that you're operating today? You said you started out a hundred percent commercial and you're now seed stock, but can you expand on your seedstock side that you're operating today?

Steve Koester (06:27):

Well, as you're aware when I got married and married into the Leland family, which is a registered Red Angus outfit in Montana. I was always intrigued about the quality of their cattle and the quality of the breed itself. I guess I'm always up for a challenge and there weren't many people raising fall-born seedstock and selling 18-month-old bulls this far north. And well, like I said, I've always liked a challenge. So we eased into it real slow and it's worked out really well. There's been a lot of challenges along the way. Learning curves have been huge, but I wouldn't say it's the most financially feasible way to raise seedstock. But, it works. It does work. And we've developed a pretty good customer base of people that really like the older age bulls.

Shaye Koester (07:38):

Okay. So you come from this commercial background and you were on the first episode where we talked about how you started your operation from scratch. So you started with commercial cattle, but worked to seedstock. So as you made that transition, what were the management differences between your commercial herd and your seedstock herd?

Steve Koester (07:57):

Well, there was quite a bit of difference there because our commercial herd was a spring calving herd. The fall calving herd of course we calve in August and September and we don't market those bulls until they're 18 months in the March bull sale. However, as far as how we handle the cattle, how we move them around or how we work them, that really hasn't changed. It's just a different season. From a seedstock side to a commercial side, there is quite a bit more labor-intensive. There are tremendous amounts of data we collect. Reproductively there's way more work. Now I'm not saying there aren't commercial herds out there that do a tremendous amount of work and data collection and do a lot of work on the repro side and kudos to them. Data is the key to the future. Data is the key and efficiency. But on the seedstock side, it's more of a mandate. So it really cuts into your time when you're, if you're used to spending X amount of hours doing this project on your ranch or that project on your ranch. You learn in a hurry that you've got to improvise and split that time because the cattle eat a lot of time.

Shaye Koester (09:35):

Well, absolutely. And like you said, it is, there are a lot of commercial producers who do collect that data, but it is more of the mandate on a seedstock side. So you talked about, you know, obviously, the management differences, because you switched from spring calving to fall calving on that side and then the data collection. But when you look at the ranches of business, how do those changes impact the business?

Steve Koester (10:00):

Well, it costs a lot of money. Every time you are working cattle. Generally, we need some extra help around here. Most time that's not free. I'd love it if it was pretty all the time, but as the old saying goes, there's no free lunch. It's more expensive is probably the big, the big one on that. If nothing else just, there's only so many hours in a day. So when you're doing one project, you're taking away from another project, we handle the cattle so much more. You need extra help. It goes back to just more data, more data, more data. For us to produce the best seedstock we can produce, we have to have all the data we can get our hands on so that we can sort the seedstocks that are siring the most profitable cattle. That's probably the main one.

Shaye Koester (11:02):

Okay. So what are the different challenges of each type of operation you've touched on like the time side of the seedstock, but what about the challenges that the commercial producers may face that the seedstock don't?

Steve Koester (11:21):

Wow. That's the million-dollar question right there. To me, when we had more commercial cattle, one of the biggest frustrations I had was the variation in our offspring. We tried our hardest to eliminate it and did a pretty good job. But with today's data, we can eliminate a little of that. From a commercial producer right now, to me, the challenge is variation in the quality of the end product. The more uniform we can make these cattle in phenotype, the more uniform we can make these cattle in efficiency and cutability and quality grade, it just takes so much risk out on the financial side for them. With the advances we've seen in the seedstock industry, I truly believe we're taking out a lot of that variability. If you're careful with your sire purchases, I really think we're taking a lot out.

Shaye Koester (12:44):

How has raising commercial cattle helped you as you raise seed stock?

Steve Koester (12:52):

Well, I touched on some of it. I am not a huge fan of variation in a calf crop. When we raised commercial cattle here and we still do to some degree, I still help my father with his commercial side. One thing that really helped is that we fed our own cattle out a time or two, maybe even a little more than that. We always tracked our cattle as far as we could track them. Now, that's not always possible and I understand that. But, finding out what your end product is, is probably the biggest key you can ever have, if you're going to try to move your cow herd to be more profitable. And I think that background really helped me as I moved forward in the seedstock side. Just putting it in a nutshell, that's probably the simplest answer I can give.

Shaye Koester (13:55):

Well, in that sense, you went from, you didn't start at the end of the supply chain, but as you move to seedstock, you kind of moved towards the beginning where you were working on supplying more, the genetics for the beef that would go into the supply chain.

Steve Koester (14:09):

Exactly. Yeah. What we focus on here is our end product all the time. We will never sacrifice the maternal aspect. Maternal traits are so important in the commercial side. That good maternal cow that breeds back every time on time, brings you in a live calf and a good calf good uddered and easy flashing; that's your base. You have to have that. You just, everything else after that is kind of syrup on your ice cream or whatever you want to call it. But it's crucial. Your end product is crucial and this industry needs to do in my opinion, needs to do a little better job making sure we know where that product's going to be when we put those calves on a pot.

Shaye Koester (15:06):

Absolutely. And traceability is a huge it's, it's been a hot topic for a long time, but it's interesting to see the technology that's coming out and the challenges the industry's facing with trying to implement that and everything.

Steve Koester (15:20):

We've been hearing the word traceability for a long time. But in my opinion, we've been hearing it so long that it's already here. If you don't believe me, go sell a really crappy set of feeder cattle and see if they come back to buy. They know where they came from. Traceability right now to me is just making it easier and easier to go back to the ranch and accountability is not a bad thing. It's a good thing if you're trying to move an industry forward.

Shaye Koester (15:53):

Well, absolutely. So shifting back to making that transition from commercial to seedstock, what would you say is one of the main challenges you faced on shifting your focus to the seedstock side?

Steve Koester (16:08):

Well, I guess I'd probably say when I shifted to the seedstock, probably the biggest challenge was thinking build it and they will come. It doesn't work that way. It's taken a lot of years to build a trust factor with the commercial industry. It takes a lot of years to find people within a commercial industry that have the same thought process because as you know, as you build a seedstock herd our thought process on what we consider the perfect cow, what we consider the perfect bull, what we consider the perfect end product that varies from ranch to ranch to ranch. But one thing that doesn't vary ever is profit. So once we got less variation in our cattle, the cattle are all profitable for the most part, the ones that aren't profitable are not seedstock. We started having a lot more success and it takes time. It does not happen overnight. It just takes time. So in a nutshell, I guess to sum it up, I would say building a customer base. But, the customer base is hard to come by and easily lost. It's a lot of work. And it's a lot of explaining what your principles, goals and thought processes are. That's probably the shortest version. There's a lot of metrics involved in it.

Shaye Koester (17:53):

Okay. So, and this kind of ties into what you just said with a challenge, but was there anything else you really didn't expect about the seedstock side when you transitioned to it? Was there anything that surprised you about it as you dove deeper into that business and committed?

Steve Koester (18:09):

The biggest one was the time, a tremendous amount of time. Your customers are calling and wanting help, wanting advice, or this worked, and this didn't work and help me get through this. And I love that. I truly enjoy that side of it and it's crucial. Like I said, I enjoy it, but the time that it consumes is maybe for lack of a better term, it's pretty astronomical and overwhelming. It's something you really need to prepare for if you're going to get into business. You know, you're out baling hay, raking hay, cutting hay, and the phone rings. Next thing you know, you're giving some advice on bloodlines or this or that, or the next thing. It eats up a lot of time.

Shaye Koester (19:07):

Oh, absolutely and business is about the people. So you need that customer service, but also on the seedstock side, I mean, you even look at gathering birth weights and are you taking extra DNA samples, some commercial producers take those DNA samples, but all those extra times through the chute and what you mentioned earlier in the interview about, you know, are you doing more on the reproduction side than you used to?

Steve Koester (19:31):

It all adds up. It eats up a lot of time and you know what, I'm not saying that I have all the answers, but I've got a little experience and I love helping people work through some things and whether that's from genetics or whatever, right. I don't claim to be a nutrition expert, but I can keep a cow alive. Well, we hope so this year in this drought but we'll be alright. Going back a little bit, I'll maybe add to that. That was probably one of the biggest challenges I had going to a seedstock fall calving herd. That's quite the nutritional challenge considering we're in North Dakota and it taken a long time to get that balance right. Nutrition was a huge part of that and it's quite different than a spring calving herd.

Steve Koester (20:41):

So as we kind of round out this conversation, you've really talked about the differences, but you've talked about how you work with commercial producers. So how can commercial producers best work with their seedstock supplier?

Steve Koester (20:56):

That is so simple. That answer to that is so simple. And it's one of the biggest problems we have, even as human beings. Communicate, communicate, and then communicate. Visit with your seed stock supplier, let them know what, what you want to change, what you want, don't want to mess with. I've had commercial producers say, I want this, but don't mess this up. And it's easy. It's not that hard. We have a tremendous suite of tools to work with. Just talk to your customers or if you're a commercial guy, talk to your seedstock supplier. If you want to try a new seedstock supplier, call them up and visit with them. See if you align with them or not. But that is so crucial. Then if you do purchase some cattle from them, just do a little follow-up call. The, "Hey, young bulls are holding up good." Or as a seedstock supplier call and ask, "How are the bulls holding up? Is there something I can do for you?" Communication is a two-way street. And to me, that is absolutely the biggest and best tool you can pull out of the tool chest.

Shaye Koester (22:24):

So then does that answer the next question of how can seedstock producers best work with their commercial clients?

Steve Koester (22:31):

Yes, I answered it previously and communication is absolutely key. As a seedstock supplier, we need to call and visit with our commercial customers. I'll turn this just a little bit. The commercial customers need to call the seedstock supplier to0. It's a two-way street. Communication goes both ways and we can't help a commercial producer. If the commercial producer doesn't tell us what they want help with. And I said this a little earlier too. With the suite of tools we have right now in the seedstock industry, it's phenomenal. We can help make the commercial producer more profitable or let's turn it the other way. The commercial producer absolutely can be more profitable if they just communicate with us and let us help them fill their niche need that they want fixed. We absolutely can do it. The industry is there. Everything need to do it is there.

Shaye Koester (23:48):

So as we round out the interview, do you have any last advice for someone who isn't sure if they want to get into the seedstock side of the beef industry?

Steve Koester (24:00):

Well, the real short version answer to that is if you're not sure don't do it. If you're not passionate about it, don't do it because there's plenty of rejection and pitfalls, just like any other business. I would say ease into it though, even if you're positive, ease into it. See if it's truly a fit for you because like we covered earlier there is a tremendous amount of labor time. You know, when everything's broke down on your ranch, that's the day when six commercial guys are going to call you and want to visit and you better do it. You better do it. Their success is your success. There is one more thing too. You better be talking to your creator every day. In anything you do check with him first, then check your passion. And if you still have it, go for it. It's a great business. It really is. It's a great business. I love it. I truly enjoy it. I love delivering bulls. I love getting on ranches. Yeah. I just love looking around and seeing how people do things. I'm still learning every day too. I learned a lot from our commercial industry and our customers and I hope they're learning too. It's a two-way street.

Shaye Koester (25:58):

Alright, well, thank you very much for being on the show today.

Steve Koester (26:02):

Not a problem.

Shaye Koester (26:10):

Alrighty, thank you again to Steve and for this episode's sponsor. I really appreciate being able to have both of them as a part of this podcast production. Now, I hope that you got as much out of that interview as I did, I guess I have the opportunity to listen to Steve a lot, but it was great to have him back on the show and to share his story and experiences with everyone. Please be sure to go find those social media posts or the comments section on whatever app you're listening to and let me know what you think or what you like. If there are more episodes you want to hear, let me know, and I will try and find someone to speak on those topics. Sometimes I can and sometimes I can't, but I do try. So with that, you have a great rest of your day and I hope to catch you on the next one.

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