SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi there, I'm Molly.

SPEAKER_01 0:01

And I'm Jamie. We're the owners of Higher Hand Software. And this is season six of our From the Pasture podcast. For more than 15 years, we've been helping breeders promote their pedigree livestock with our easy-to-use, animal management-driven website software.

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Each week, we bring you stories from the pasture, breeding philosophies, ranch traditions, cattle knowledge, and conversation with folks using Hired Hand to power their livestock marketing. So settle in for today's episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand.

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Today on From the Pasture with Hired Hand, we're visiting with Sean Sayer of SNA Longhorns in Brookfield, Missouri. Ranching runs deep in Sean's family. His father Bill and mother Conda founded well-known BC Longhorn Ranch back in 1978 and even launched the B and C Show Me Longhorn sale, which still holds the record as the longest-running Longhorn sale in the industry. We'll hear how Sean has carried on that legacy forward at SNA Longhorns, why family is still at the center of everything they do, and how tools like pasture rotation and modern equipment keep their program running strong. We'll also talk about what Sean sees as the biggest change in ranching over the years, the traditions he hopes never go away, and of course, what it's like raising longhorns with deep roots in the breed. Stick around because later we'll get into some fun rapid-fire questions from why calving season top Sean's list to his dream trip to Yellowstone, and even which Western icon he'd invite to dinner. Well, welcome back to the podcast, Sean. Why don't you start by telling us a little bit about yourself and how you're connected to SA Longhorns?

SPEAKER_02 1:41

Um, Sean's there. Um my wife and I own SA Longhorns. We've owned, we've been together for 15 years. We've raised Longhorns ever since. Um, of course, I've been in the Longhorn business for 47 years with my family, and we've just kept the business going, and here we are.

SPEAKER_01 2:01

For those folks listening about B and C Longhorn Ranch and their history, why don't you walk us through how your family's B and C Ranch became such a cornerstone in the industry and kind of led to the SA Longhorns that you have today?

SPEAKER_02 2:16

Dad started the sale uh back in '79. Um he started the business um due to the longhorn industry. There was very few breeders in the in the United States, and he thought it was a an up-and-coming breed that no one had, and he thought it was an interesting breed, so he decided to start raising them and and selling them. So that's how the B and C sale started. And then as that grew, and um we started raising them, and my wife and I, we um we decided we would uh start our own herd, and then we branched off and kept our herd going. Dad sold the farm, and my wife and I bought a place and uh we started SNA Longhorns, and we have about 20 mama cows and about 16 babies, and here we are with SNA Longhorns.

SPEAKER_01 3:06

For those of us who were fortunate enough to know your dad, uh we hold on to some pretty great memories of the the good old days. Um I'd love to hear from your perspective what some of your favorite stories or memories or time spent with your dad and your mom and the longhorns were.

SPEAKER_02 3:21

Well, we got, I mean, there's not enough time in the day to tell the stories that we've we've got uh and what we've done. You know, just like when your dad used to come to the sales back in the days, you know, the old the old timers, you know, you see the, you know, uh Joe Moore was there at the sale this this time buying a lot of cows when his his dad, Ray, was there buying cattle. Um, you know, you see the the sons there buying when the fathers used to come, you know, and it's it's like like myself, you know, I'm I'm still there doing it when dad started it, you know. Um it's the there's very few of the the old timers still in it. Now you see their children buying cattle and it's and they're still raising cattle. You know, the stories, the stories, the stories that, you know, you sit there and you you listen to people talk about the old days, you know, it just it never gets old. You know, you just I love listening to the stories about, you know, when we started and the the old time cattle, like, you know, classic and uh Wyoming war paint and things like that. It was just it's interesting to that's why I'm still doing it.

SPEAKER_01 4:25

Well, your sale, the Show Me Longhorn sale, is the longest running sale in the breed, if we did our research correctly. Yeah, I'm pretty sure I sat through a few of you and your dad's sales with my coloring book way back when.

SPEAKER_02 4:37

Absolutely. Yeah. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 4:39

What do you what do you remember most about the origins of the sale and what do you think its impact is today?

SPEAKER_02 4:46

You know, the the origin is just the way things have changed. The, you know, back in the day a 42-inch cow was was was a big animal. Um, you know, um teacher's pet, you know, Mike Cocker known a cow named Teacher's Pet. She was 46 inches, and that was huge back in the day. And we had$21,000 bid on her, and he he um he PO'd her in the cell ring because he didn't think that was enough money for, you know, and and in today's market, you know, you take a cow that's 115 inches, and you know, they bring 60,000, 70,000, 800,000, and you know, it's just the way things have changed, the style, the body, and and the the tip-to-tip measurements now, uh a 42-inch cow is is is heifers now, you know, and it's just it's just the way the things have changed in and tip to tip, and you know, it's it's it's it's wild.

SPEAKER_01 5:40

It is. I remember I, you know, like I I showed all through high school and then I kind of didn't go to much stuff while I was in college a few years after college when I went back to the world show. I just remember thinking, just in those four or five, six years, the progress that the animals had made, not just with their horn length and shape, but also just some of the changes you saw to their body and stuff. It was like I it was like seeing a whole new breed almost, because what you knew from what you knew from growing up and from the past, they didn't look like that anymore, just in that short span. And then you look, you compound that to all the years lately, and it's just it's really been uh a lot of growth since. It's crazy.

SPEAKER_02 6:22

No, it's it's amazing. I mean, yeah, it's it's it's crazy. It's yeah, it's it's unbelievable, really.

SPEAKER_01 6:30

Well, talking a little bit more about your roots, um, you know, your dad started Longhorns back in 1978. Um, what do you recall about those early days? Uh yeah, and I know we just touched on some of it, but is there anything we haven't talked about?

SPEAKER_02 6:44

Well, it was it was interesting. You know, we had we had Angus cattle too. You know, we had commercial Angus cattle as well as as quarter horses. You know, we did a little bit of everything. And it was funny, my grandpa thought dad was crazy for buying those horn cattle, and and you know, it and everybody thought dad was, you know, off his rocker back then when he's buying these weird cattle, and and uh people didn't realize that, you know, cattle they don't lose their teeth, they very rarely get sick. They, you know, you never have to pull Kevs out of them. And, you know, they seen these great big horns and they thought, wow, they're they're uh they're wild, they're crazy, you know, they got these horns, they're mean. Well, they're they're not. You know, I had a steer that I rode back when I was a kid, you know, and I I rode him in parades and things like that. And, you know, it was just it was it was neat, it was unique that, you know, hey, let's go out to the stairs and see their longhorn cows. And you know, everybody wanted to, all the kids in my class wanted to go out to our house and you know, see what we had out there because we always had something different and something new out there. And it was kind of it was kind of fun, you know, it was interesting, and and it was just fun growing up out on the farm.

SPEAKER_01 7:46

Were you ever involved in 4-H or FFA with them, or were there rules against horn cattle?

SPEAKER_02 7:51

No, we never. We showed uh we showed Angus cattle, but we never showed longhorns, no. Uh-uh.

SPEAKER_01 7:58

So, how do you think the transition from B and C longhorns to SNA longhorns has kind of shaped your own ranching style? Is there anything you and Allison have done that you think your dad would kind of shake his head at or or cheer you on?

SPEAKER_02 8:11

No, nothing. No, we just Allison and I concentrate on um our we raise black and whites. Um that's about all we raise. We don't have too many uh red and white cattle. We concentrate. Allison likes the black and white color of cattle, and that's kind of what we our traits are. Um we've got four cows right now that are solid black that are in the 80s, 80 inch tip to tip. And uh so that kind of puts us in a different air with what we've got as far as you know what we raise. But no, dad's dad, dad, uh, he's he agrees with what we do, you know. So he wouldn't he doesn't he doesn't say, hey, why don't you do this or do that? You know, he's he's on board, so makes me makes me proud.

SPEAKER_01 8:56

So are there any B and C animals left in your herd that you know of?

SPEAKER_02 9:02

No.

SPEAKER_01 9:03

Who is your favorite?

SPEAKER_02 9:05

Well, I do have I do have a skull of a of one of the B and C uh uh Conquest. We have his skull that we uh dad dad had a bull we bought off CJ France. Uh I do have him hanging over the the door of uh my garage. Um, but we do have some, then we had uh Rustler, our steer. We've got, you know, some skulls of our our our animals we had back in the day. But I don't know of any existing animals that are still alive today because you're talking, you know, 40-some years ago that some animals that were alive back then, you know, so but we still have you know heads and things like that of them.

SPEAKER_01 9:44

Let's talk a little bit about your ranch and the land. Um, so your ranch is in Brookfield. What makes that location and that community special?

SPEAKER_02 9:53

It was my grandma's farm. Um she lived here um in the 50s, and um, so my wife and I bought it um 15 years ago. We've got 30 acres here on the edge of town, and uh just it's been in the family for for many years, and we had the opportunity to buy it, and so we built a house here, and that's where we raise our cattle now.

SPEAKER_01 10:42

While we were preparing for today's episode, you had mentioned that you do rotational grazing for your herd. Um, how do you manage your pastures and what benefits have you seen from that?

SPEAKER_02 10:53

Well, we're pretty fortunate. We have three different paddocks that we can rotate to. Um we use we use our own our own uh hay and manure to fertilize with, and I rotate uh seasonally. We've we've been pretty fortunate here in our area uh with the rain and things that we can uh rotate pretty. I just I put out a little bit of hay to just keep them keep them fed. Uh it was dry for for a few weeks, but we've been pretty fortunate with grass. You know, we're still we're still pretty green here, so it's it's pretty fortunate for us to be able to do that.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

What advice do you have for someone who's considering changing over to rotational grazing?

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Just make sure, make sure you've got the right, you use the right fertilizer and you you take care of your grass and make sure you got the right grass in there to uh to for your cattle. You know, I I've fascu is going to take over anywhere you go, you know, and that's that's a given. You know, I don't bluegrass, blue stem around here is pretty popular. Um we stay away from the clover and things like that. So fescue hay around around here is basically basically what we got in our pastures.

SPEAKER_01 12:07

So I know you touched a little bit on, you know, people maybe thinking your dad was crazy for getting longhorns and that sort of stuff. Have you noticed changes in either the land use or the community perception of longhorn ranching in Missouri over time?

SPEAKER_02 12:22

Well, you know, when dad when dad got into cattle, you know, they people would drive by our place and see that our our pastures and our our trees and stuff were clear. You know, Longhorn will eat anything. They'll eat the trees as high as they can reach, they will eat the cuckleburs, they'll eat the stuff that a lot of cattle won't eat because they don't have the teeth to do it. So they would hire, well, they wouldn't really hire, they would ask Dad if they could use our cattle to clean their pastures. And of course, so that would give us, you know, free grazing to use our cattle to to to winter on or to pasture on, and so we wouldn't have to hay or feed them as much as we normally would because people would want to clear off some pastures and things like that. So it it would benefit both them and us, you know, for for their um for their pastures and it'd feed our cattle.

SPEAKER_01 13:15

Do you think that Longhorn Ranching in Missouri is more widespread than it used to be? Do you know of a lot more breeders?

SPEAKER_02 13:22

There's the there's there's a few more younger breeders getting in the business, yes. Um I wouldn't say a lot, but there are a few, few more younger breeders in the area, yes, local around our area. I'd say within a 7500 mile radius around us, yes.

SPEAKER_01 13:39

Well, and with your sale that you hold, you probably notice, you know, there's there's cycles, like you said, the the old timers' sons and daughters are now the ones making the decisions, but you probably also notice that maybe folks are active for a while and then take it take some time off and then come back and build their herd back up. Kind of goes in phases like that as well, it seems.

SPEAKER_02 13:59

Yeah, and you know, some people, um, I've noticed some people, you know, rent their pasture and they have lost their rent, their rental pasture and they're having to get out of the longhorn business, or they've taken new adventures on and they have to sell out. You know, main mainly it's because they lose their pasture rent. Uh they have no more pasture to keep them on. So they, you know, they they either sell down and then they try to start over. But that's that's mainly the the reason they get out, is because they lose their pasture.

SPEAKER_01 14:28

I feel like that's a widespread problem. That's not just isolated to the Midwest.

SPEAKER_02 14:33

Right. Yes.

SPEAKER_01 14:35

Well, let's talk a little bit about your herd and breeding philosophy. Um, how do you, and Alison? I know you mentioned black and whites and and that sort of stuff, but how do you approach building your herd and what are you drawn to uh within it that you're you that you're aiming for?

SPEAKER_02 14:50

Well, again, you know, we we focus mainly on black and whites. You know, we're using certain certain bulls. Uh we've got a foundation, we've got a group of foundation cows that we started with um a few years back that we have purchased and we've raised um, you know, from different breeders around here. And we've we've now have grown into using a bull that we have raised. We've taken a couple of our better cows and have bred to certain bulls in the area that we think are going to be up-and-coming bulls. So we're getting our foundation based around those those bloodlines that we think will be the good black and white bloodlines in the industry.

SPEAKER_01 15:29

Can you are you able to share some of the names of those bullshit? Sure, absolutely.

SPEAKER_02 15:34

Um You know, we we have a we have a Stallone son that we're using. He's a solid black bull that we raised out of one of our good cows, and then we bred to uh spoke zest, uh Kim and Randy Jones's spoke zest bull. Um and then we used uh we bred our she had us a uh heifer kef. Then we turned around and took her and bred her to um smoke uh the blue streak bull that Donny Volkart has that we used it at at uh our sale that we had here in last weekend. So we're using those two bulls right now as um as our our bloodline to get in our herd.

SPEAKER_01 16:12

So what stands out about those herd sires or what do you look for when you make those breeding decisions?

SPEAKER_02 16:18

The color. They're coloring their horns and what they're bred, what their background they're bred to. You know, you've got you've got saddle horn and you've got blue streak on both top and bottom on both the both the the pedigrees on those two bulls. You know, blue streak is a TCC cattle company uh herd sire that's done, you know, great things with them and you know, saddle horn, saddle jewel, what saddle jewel has done, you know. So the the the bloodline is deep in those pedigrees, and that's what we're looking for. You know, and we've got other pedigrees, you know, that we we base on. You know, you've got Jamaicism and things in our in our herd that we that we're using. We've got uh bow hunter daughters, um, you know, so we've got we in our in our opinion, we feel like we've got some some pedigrees that are are pretty good that that people are using in in the industry.

SPEAKER_01 17:09

What about when you look at replacement heifers or adding females to your herd? Uh, what are you looking for in those traits and bloodlines?

SPEAKER_02 17:16

We're just raising, we're keeping all of our heifers. Uh our matter of fact, we sold our good bull, our 50, our 50 caliber bull. Uh he was a 50-50 son, and we're keeping all of his heifers, and that's the reason we got rid of him. Um so we'll keep all of our heifers. And we we had 80% heifers this year, so we've got we're gonna have a pretty good return on our heifers this year. So we'll have, um, of course, all of them are black and white except one. She was red and white, and that's out of our best cow, which she was uh she got bred to a uh Stallone son. Um but we we'll have we got probably 12 heifers, replacement heifers.

SPEAKER_01 17:58

Tell me the top two that you're most excited to follow their growth and this time next year.

SPEAKER_02 18:04

It will be our it will be our lazy jay bow hunter heifer out of um Spokesest, and it will be our our little bull, our little we have a little bull kef out of our Geronimo heifer and spoke zest. And then I'm really looking forward to our uh Lazy Jay Bo Hunter uh Bred to Smoke. So yeah, we got a lot we're really looking forward to. And then we bought uh, of course, we bought hot bought hot heart throb. I forgot about heart, I don't know why how I forgot about heart throb. Uh we bought hot heart throb off of Joe, slot a check, and she has a nightshade uh heifer calf on the ground that we're really excited about. So we've got some got some pretty pretty nice heifer calves coming up.

SPEAKER_01 18:49

Is there an animal over the years that you sold that you kick yourself for you wished you would have held on to or still had him or her today to influence your herd?

SPEAKER_02 18:58

Yeah. Yeah, yeah. I wish we still had uh a couple older cows back, but you know, we got some great heifers out of them. So, you know, it's it's it's a gift and a curse. You know, you you dad always said uh keep the factory, sell the prodigy, but you know, I I did the opposite. I didn't listen to him on that, and and I wished I would have, but you know, hindsight's 2020, and I I uh I I think I did the right thing because I got some tr tremendous heifers out of her. So I think we're okay.

SPEAKER_01 19:31

Well, let's talk a little bit about tools and traditions. Um, this is these are some questions we went over as we were preparing for today. So you said you couldn't live without your four by four tractor, your ranger, and your Joe shoot. Which one sees the most use and why? Uh why is it your favorite?

SPEAKER_02 19:48

My ranger. My ranger is because I use it, I check, I check the cows daily with it, and we feed cubes of an evening with it, and the cows just know it. Um you know, we've got a big steer that we got off of Kim and Randy Jones, and uh, of course we call him Matt after their late son. And uh he he comes up and whenever they see the ranger, they just come and running because they know they're gonna get cubes. And I'd be lost without it. I mean, the cows, I can lead them from here to Kansas with it if, you know, they would, they'd follow me everywhere with it. And it's just, it's just uh I don't know what I'd done with would do without it. You know, it's just it's a great, it's a great tool.

SPEAKER_01 20:28

What do you like about the other two?

SPEAKER_02 20:30

Well, feeding in the winter, I I'm inside a cab. I don't get cold when I feed my hay, you know. So they're they're they're both a big asset to my farm whenever I'm feeding and taking care of my animals.

SPEAKER_01 20:44

And what about the Joe shoot? How has that changed things?

SPEAKER_02 20:47

Well, the the Joe shoot is just everybody needs a Joe shoot. You know, a lawhorn in the lawhorn industry, everybody needs a shoot like that because you know, you you take you you you take a 80 80-inch cow, it's kind of hard to put her through a regular chute. You know, you Joe shoot, it's just it's just safe for the cows. It's it's a lot easier to work, and you know, they know how to get they a cow can get through a hole the size they can work their head through, you know, and it's they can get through a chute, but a Joe shoot is just so much safer to work an animal in, you know, a long horn, especially.

SPEAKER_01 21:24

It's another one of those areas we've seen uh drastic uh improvement or changes in, don't you think? I mean, back back in the day you didn't have a choice what type of shoot, you just had the standard one that's right.

SPEAKER_02 21:36

You know, and we had the powder rubber shoots when they first come out, you know, and we made our alleyways, you know, for longhorns. You know, like I said, you know, we had 42, 43 inch horn cows, and you know, we could make that work, but now you've got you've got 100 inch cows and it's just kind of hard to make that work in those kind of shoots, you just can't do it. It's just impossible. And now, you know, it's it just works so much better, and it's it's easier and safer for the animals too, you know.

SPEAKER_01 22:02

So Well, we asked you what your favorite season was, and you answered calving season. So what makes that so meaningful to you?

SPEAKER_02 22:10

Just watching the babies, the little babies come around, you know, and you take you you you see your older your older kids when they hit the ground and they play together, and then you see the younger kids and they kind of hang together and stay together, and it's just it's just like uh your brother. And sisters, you know, they're they're the same age and they play together. And it's just fun to go out there in the ranger and just watch them play and carry on and watch them grow. You know, it just it's just neat to watch that.

SPEAKER_01 22:36

Well, when we were talking to you about traditions, you'd said that one tradition that you hope never goes away is doing it as a family. What does that look like on your ranch today?

SPEAKER_02 22:45

Never stop. It'll always be that way. My granddaughter, she'll she'll uh she will have longhorns and it'll always she'll always it'll always be that way.

SPEAKER_01 22:56

That's awesome. Well, let's talk a little bit about community and your legacy. Um so how has your family's involvement with the show me sale and the longhorn industry shaped your relationships with other breeders?

SPEAKER_02 23:10

It's you know, we do this sale for it's it's all family. We we do it as a family. You know, we don't we don't really ask for help per se. Um, you know, it's it's me, my wife, my son, my buddies help. You know, it's just a family, it's a family event. Um we're here, we do this for the people. We do this for the breeders. Um it's not about the money. Um, yeah, it's nice to make money when you put on a sale. Uh my wife and I said when we start losing money, we'll stop doing the sales. But we, you know, we don't, we don't, we haven't yet, you know. Uh, but it's it's it's for the breeders, it's for the people around here. You know, we want to make it a place where people can come and have fun and enjoy it and, you know, and make money with their animals as well and promote their animals, you know. Just like this year, we had a handful of new breeders come in here and they topped a sale with their animals. Um, and they said they'll be back. You know, so that makes us feel real good about that, you know. So it's it's just it's it's all about family and it's all about communication with with the breeders, you know. That's that's what we're here for. You know, that's that's the bottom line. It's we want to we want to do this sale for for the breeders of the Longhorn Association. So that's what we're here for.

SPEAKER_01 24:29

How many years now have you been having the faturity with your sale?

SPEAKER_02 24:34

That's a Bill Sayer question. I can't remember.

SPEAKER_01 24:37

So a long time.

SPEAKER_02 24:39

I I would say 30 plus. I think Dad, Dad, we started it when we had the horse sale. I'd say 30 plus. I I, you know, I'm not I would say 35 years maybe with the futurity, and that's just the thing, you know. We we would love, well, I wouldn't say we'd love to have a futurity because it's just too much work and it's a lot of hassle, you know, to put on a faturity and a sale because we have, you know, we have two to three hundred animals at our sale where other people just have 70 to 80, you know, and we they have 400 furity heifers. We just don't have the facility to do that. You know, we're uh we're we're more considered a sale than we are faturity, you know, and we have, but we did have, we had 40 some animals in the faturity. Um, you know, and some of those animals topped the sale. You know, a fatur heifer was one of the top-selling animals in the sale. Um, so our faturity, people are realizing, you know, these young heifers are bringing good money, so they're selling their young heifers. So uh the faturity is a good thing for us because we sell we sell the fatur heifers and it it it lets those people promote their bloodlines at our sale, you know. So it's it it's it's a good paturity, it's fun.

SPEAKER_01 25:55

And have you always had a spring sale and a fall sale, or has it kind of We have.

SPEAKER_02 26:00

We stopped, we stopped about four years ago. We stopped having it because it became a um a dump sale, and it aggravated me, and I got upset about it because it was blown up on social media that, oh yeah, it was a dump sale, they're you know, you know, this and that. And I said, Nope, not gonna have that. So we stopped it for a year or two, and then people said, Nope, we got to have it back. So then we started it back. So we just stopped for about a year or two for the fall sale. We've always had a spring sale, always. Um then, but yeah, I I got a little upset about it, and we stopped for a little while, but then the people won it again. So there again, I we come back and did it for the people. So we started the fall sale back, and it's it's working.

SPEAKER_01 26:49

So you don't just do longhorn sales. What's the coolest thing you've ever sold as an auctioneer?

SPEAKER_02 26:56

Well, I've sold everything. Exotic animals, I've sold giraffes, ostriches, chimpanzees, flying squirrels, monkeys. Um I don't think there's anything I haven't sold. Um, you know, we do exotic sale making for years. Dad dad started it back in the day. You know, I've sold white-tailed deer. I've traveled all over the United States selling, selling, selling stuff.

SPEAKER_01 27:58

What advice would you give specifically to a longhorn breeder who's considering consigning to a sale for the first time?

SPEAKER_02 28:05

Consigning? Pick out your best animal, sell your best animal.

SPEAKER_01 28:11

What about buying?

SPEAKER_02 28:13

Talk to somebody that knows what they're doing. Get advice before you start buying an animal.

SPEAKER_01 28:20

What is your biggest pet peeve from people in the audience while you're trying to sell a cow?

SPEAKER_02 28:27

Trying to cut me down on a bid. Don't cut me down on a and you know, and it it's but you know, I I do it to Dan too. When I'm trying to buy a cow, you know, it's it's it's you know, when you're selling it, when you're selling a uh a$20,000 or$30,000 cow, you don't want somebody to to to knock you down to to$100 or$50, you know, but it's all in fun and games, you know, it's but that's my biggest pet peeve, you know. But you gotta do it. You try to get the most money for the animal and you try to help the seller and the buyer get a better deal.

SPEAKER_01 29:03

So you ever had a cow join you in the auction block?

SPEAKER_02 29:08

Absolutely. Yes, ma'am. Yes, we have. Up at Kirksville. She jumped right in the auction block. She didn't get in with us, but she she got close.

SPEAKER_01 29:18

Well, let's talk a little bit about uh our our relationship. How did you first get connected with us at Hired Hand?

SPEAKER_02 29:25

I've known you for, I've known you forever.

SPEAKER_01 29:31

We're old, right? Yeah, right.

SPEAKER_02 29:33

I've known you and your family for before everybody knew you. Uh Hired Hand, it, you know, Dad, Dad, Dad never believed in change. Um, he didn't, you know, he didn't do the the new things. He just lived by the old timers and the the the old ways. And my wife and I, you know, people said, hey, you gotta get on this, you gotta do this, you gotta spend money to make money. And so we we decided that, you know, we we we gotta do something. We've gotta get, we've got to catch up to times. And so I think we've been with you guys for, I don't know, five or six years. I believe. I'm not I'm not 100% sure. Um we've even used you a couple times on machinery sales. Um, you know, so I think it's been five or six years.

SPEAKER_01 30:21

Well, it took you, it took you a little long to get a website with us. I'm not gonna sugarcoat it, but you're one of those folks that I I wasn't gonna hound. I just knew you were doing your thing. But now that you have a website for your ranch with us, what have you seen as some of the benefits?

SPEAKER_02 30:36

Oh, it's it's helped us tremendously. You know, since we bought, you know, went out and I got a little carried away at an auction and bought an expensive cow and and it kind of, you know, it's kind of put us on the map out there, you know, with what we're doing, with what our herd and stuff. You know, I kind of want to be that silent type of guy that, hey, you come to me, I don't want to go to you. And, you know, it's it's helped our it's helped our our uh art of business, our our herd, our industry. It's actually helped our sale, you know. So it's uh it's something, you know, here we needed to do. You know, I was I was kind of like dad in a sense, you know, why do I want to spend money on something that, you know, I don't know if it's gonna help me or not. And it has, and it is, you know, so uh it's helped uh it's helped my auction business tremendously. It's it's helped our our animals, you know. So yeah, it's something we needed to do.

SPEAKER_01 31:23

If another breeder asked you why they should invest in a hired hand website, what would you tell them?

SPEAKER_02 31:29

It's very important to do for your for your herd, for your for your name, for your animals. If you want to get, if you want anybody to know who you are, you've gotta have a website, period. It's it's all about social media in today's world. That's just it. I mean, that's that's that's all I can say. I mean, it's it's social media. And you guys are the best at what you do. I mean, that's just all I can say. I'm not saying it because I know you and you're you're you're you're good at what you do and you are good at what you do, but it's it's something you everybody has to have. You're gonna if you wanna if you want to be in the lawhorn business and buy and sell and promote your animals, you've got to have a website.

SPEAKER_01 32:12

Well, we always love hearing how folks are using their hired hand websites and hired hand live to market their cattle. So thank you for sharing your your insights and to our listeners. We really appreciate that. But since you're an auctioneer by trade, I thought we'd do something a little different and have some fun with it. So let's imagine you're at a sale barn, microphone in hand, but instead of selling cattle, you're selling a website or our software. Can I put you on the spot and hear your pitch?

SPEAKER_02 32:39

I'm selling your I'm selling what? Your software?

SPEAKER_01 32:43

Sell it, sell a website to all the listeners here. Let's hear your your auctioneer skills.

SPEAKER_02 32:47

But you want me to auction something? Your your website? Yeah. Listen to you. I got a sale, I got a sale Saturday. I'm barely talking now. Everybody's heard me auction Molly.

SPEAKER_01 32:57

Oh, just a little bit. Come on.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

20 five 30 35 hi, 30 five 40, 40, 5, hi, 40, 50. Now, this is something everybody needs in their business. If you don't have this website, you're not gonna sell your product. You gotta have this to promote your product because it's gonna, it's gonna help. And if it doesn't help, I'll guarantee your money back. 40, 50, 60, 70, 80, 90, 90, 100, 110, 20, 20, 30, 130, 140, 50, 50, 16, 70, 70, 80, sold.

SPEAKER_01 33:25

Love it. Thank you.

SPEAKER_02 33:27

Oh, thank you. Thank you.

SPEAKER_01 33:31

Well, let's have a little bit more fun here. Um, so again, we had you fill out a questionnaire before today's podcast, and we asked you your dream ranch destination. Um, you mentioned it would be Yellowstone. What would you hope to experience there?

SPEAKER_02 33:45

I'd just like to see it. I would I'd love to go there and see it. You know, I I I watch the show. I, you know, I even I watch reruns. It's just a neat place. I'd love to go see it. The country's beautiful. It would just be a neat place to go visit and see, you know. I think it'd be a better place with longhorn cattle on it instead of Angus cattle, but that's just me. You know, that's just me. It'd be a prettier, you know, because you you see the green grass, you just see black cattle and black cattle. You know, the longhorns, in my opinion, you know, when you drive by a field and you see different colors out there than just, you know, because you got Herford Charlet and things. Well, you see longhorns, you've got all the colors in the field instead of just red, black, gray, and white, and you know, it's you know, all the colors are in a longhorn. There's they're they're there in one animal. You know, and that's the neat thing about a longhorn cow is you're gonna have multiple colors in a longhorn to where in Hertford you're gonna have red, in Charlie, you're gonna have white, you know, in Angus, you're gonna have black. You know, and Longhorn, you're gonna have all three of those colors in one cow.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

And we already know if they can make it through winter in Missouri and Iowa and and Oregon and everywhere else, they'd be just fine up there.

SPEAKER_02 34:53

Yeah, and I bought a cow, I bought a cow at the sale come from Mississippi, and she's she's a she's 17 or 18 years old. And I hope she makes it through Missouri winter because she's got a baby kef in her, so I hope she makes it through the winter here. If she can make it here, she's gonna be a tough old gal. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 35:12

Well, we also asked you if you could invite um one Western icon to dinner. Who would you choose? And you chose John Wayne. Um what's the first question you would ask him?

SPEAKER_02 35:22

The Duke. Hey, I I I don't know what I'd ask him. I'd just being off, he was in front of me. He just he's just uh he's just a cool man. I mean, you know, I he just he just somebody I grew up watching as a kid. You know, I've I've seen every one of his movies. He's just a he's a cool dude.

SPEAKER_01 35:45

What do you think he'd order for dinner? Full disclosure, I did Google it and have the correct answer.

SPEAKER_02 35:51

So he probably ordered a ribeye steak.

SPEAKER_01 35:54

With what side?

SPEAKER_02 35:56

Uh probably a baked potato.

SPEAKER_01 35:59

He nailed it. He got it.

SPEAKER_02 36:01

Yeah. With horseradish on the side. Yeah. I mean, he just he just he he he's he's awesome. I mean, he just cool dude.

SPEAKER_01 36:11

Well, because you like him so much, I came up with one more game we're gonna play today. Um, so this one's called True Grit or Just Grit. So I'm gonna read you a series of statements about John Wayne. Some of them are 100% true, and some of them are completely made up. You have to say if the statement is true grit or just grit. Sound good? Oh yeah. Okay. John Wayne's real name was Marion Morrison.

SPEAKER_03 36:39

True Grit.

SPEAKER_01 36:40

Yep, he was born Marion Robert Morrison in 1907. He was nicknamed Duke after his childhood dog.

SPEAKER_03 36:50

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 36:52

Yep, right again. So the dog's name was Duke, and it was his neighbors that started calling him Little Duke. Question number three. John Wayne won three Academy Awards during his career.

SPEAKER_03 37:05

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 37:06

Ooh, this one's just grit. Um, it says it says that he won for True Grit in 1969. Uh he starred in more than 150 movies.

SPEAKER_03 37:20

Just grit.

SPEAKER_01 37:21

Oh it's true. He appeared in over 170 across five decades. All right, we're halfway through. I think it I think you're still winning. I think you have three right to two wrong. So, question number five. Wayne once turned down the role of Superman because he didn't like wearing tights.

SPEAKER_03 37:40

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 37:42

Just grit.

SPEAKER_02 37:46

I thought he was. But he would have turned it down. He wouldn't have worn tight.

SPEAKER_01 37:54

He was a college football player at USC before getting into acting.

SPEAKER_03 37:59

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 38:00

Yep. It says he played until an injury ended his career. John Wayne's handprints, footprints, and fist prints are all in front of Grauman's Chinese theater in Hollywood.

SPEAKER_03 38:12

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 38:13

Yep. It says that it happened in 1950. Uh question number eight. He owned a ranch in Arizona called the 26 Bar Ranch.

SPEAKER_03 38:22

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 38:24

Yep. His final film was called The Cowboys in 1972.

SPEAKER_03 38:29

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 38:31

Just grit. Uh it says his last film was The Shootest in 1976. Have you seen both of those?

SPEAKER_02 38:40

I don't know if I've seen that last one or not. I probably have.

SPEAKER_01 38:44

All right. Last question. John Wayne once said, courage is being scared to death, but saddling up anyway.

SPEAKER_03 38:51

True grit.

SPEAKER_01 38:52

Correct. Says it's his one of his most famous quotes. I think I think I think you tied. If I was keeping track correctly, I think you were you were half right on that.

SPEAKER_02 39:03

I won. I won.

SPEAKER_01 39:05

All right. We'll call it a win.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 39:09

Well, before we sign off today, is there anything else that you want our listeners to know about you or John Wayne or anything else?

SPEAKER_02 39:16

No, just just thank you guys for what you do. I mean, you know, it's it is it is you you have you have helped the industry uh a lot. I mean, it's it's just I can't put it into words and what you guys have done. You know, you guys have done a super job with with with the industry and helped out a bunch. I noticed the stats that you guys put out and the hard work that you guys do for not only coming to the sales, but what you do in the in the the back rooms as far as putting the numbers together and everything for people to see that a lot of people wouldn't even know um with the with the Longhorn industry. And I just want to hats off to you guys for what you do.

SPEAKER_01 39:56

Well, thank you very much. That means uh that means a lot.

SPEAKER_02 39:59

You know, I've known you and your family a long time and and uh we should have got on board a lot sooner, but you know, it's it's just one of those things that we're we're uh like I said, we're family owned and ran and we don't ask for much help, and we just thought we could do it and come to find out we couldn't do without help, and we we're we're dearly, dearly uh appreciative of what you guys have done for us.

SPEAKER_01 40:20

We'll see. It was it's fun to finally have you on board.

SPEAKER_02 40:23

Yep, yep. Well, we're we're glad to be on board. Yep.

SPEAKER_01 40:28

Sean, thank you for joining us and sharing the story of SNA Longhorns. From your father's pioneering role in starting the B and C Show Me sale to the way you're carrying the torch with the family at the heart of your ranch, it's clear that tradition and progress go hand in hand in Brookfield, Missouri. For our listeners, you can learn more about SNA Longhorns through their Hired Hand-powered website and keep up with their story online.

SPEAKER_00 40:52

Thanks for joining us on From the Pasture with Hired Hand. We hope you enjoyed today's conversation and learned something new about ranching and the people behind the pedigrees. Be sure to subscribe, leave a review, and follow along for more stories and insights from across the livestock community. This episode is brought to you by Hired Hand Software and Hired Hand Live, powering breeders online for over 15 years. Until next time, remember to appreciate the pastures you roam and their traditions that make them special.