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Hi there, I'm Molly. And I'm Jamie. We're the owners of Hired 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.

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So settle in for today's episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand.

SPEAKER_01 0:32

Welcome back to another episode of From the Pasture. I'm your host, Jamie. Today we have a special guest and a special milestone. Joining us is Andrea Wilson with the Longhorn Project, based at the Nassau Johnson Space Center in Houston. They're gearing up to celebrate 30 years of educating youth through Texas Longhorns, STEM, agriculture, and space exploration. In this conversation, we'll hear how a 20-acre pasture on a Space Center campus became a classroom, what happens when students get immersed in agriculture and STEM educational programs, how FFA students are stepping into ranch management roles, and what's ahead as they mark three decades of making a difference. Andrea, welcome to the show. We're so glad you're here. Well, to get started, tell us about yourself, your role as chairman of the board, and the executive director, and how you became involved with the Longhorn Project.

SPEAKER_02 1:25

Okay, thank you. So in 2006, which is almost 20 years ago, I helped Cindy Schnugger, who many people may know with Anchor T Ranch. They've been in the Longhorn business for a long time. She was the head of the Act Department at Clear Creek Independent School District, and my son was in high school. And I offered to help fundraise for the school livestock show on auction. And shortly after that, I got a call from her and another board member to ask me if I wanted to be on the Longhorn Project Board. And I said no. So here I am 30 years later. So basically she said, Well, just come out and see, you know, take a look and see um what you think about it. And so uh I went out there and I was dressed in my work clothes, and I she says, Well, get in back of this Polaris and we're gonna go feed the longhorns. I was like, Okay. And I had this big bell of hay sitting next to me, and she's driving out in the pasture and all these longhorns started running at me. And I was like, What do I do? She goes, just throw them some hay. And when I threw the hay, I looked up and I saw the rocket and the longhorns in one view, and I went like, I don't know what this is, but I got goosebumps. And so I joined the uh the board, the development board, um, for what when it was run by CCISD. And then years later, um, and we're gonna talk about this later, but years later, uh CCISD, they ran it for 20 years, and then we created a 501c, and when we did that, I became the chairman of the board and the executive director, and that's kind of how that happened. So, you know, and and while, and actually, uh, after I joined the board under CCISD, she told me, Oh, you need to get your son to try out. I said, try out. And and so he tried out, of course, and he made the team. So for two, two years we traveled, you know, with all the the show team to many, many shows. And my husband uh was retired at the time and he became Cindy's ranch hand. And then later, when I became the chairman of the board, he became the project manager. So we'll talk more about that in in the in the interview.

SPEAKER_01 3:27

So maybe a little bit of a reluctant start, but you clearly enjoy it tremendously since you've been around set for 20-some years now.

SPEAKER_02 3:37

Once I once I understood the background of it and how it was created and the purpose of it, it became um a calling, you know, and uh it's more than just a passion, it's just something I was called to do and to champion for for the Longhorn Project.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

Well, can you describe in your own words the mission of the Longhorn Project?

SPEAKER_02 3:59

So the originally it was set up as it's called the Longhorn Project, affectionately, but the real name of it is a Center for Agriculture Science and Engineering. And the purpose of it is to provide education, agriculture education, STEM education to youth. And originally it was just for CCISD, but then in 2015, we when it was transitioned to the nonprofit, we were able to open it to all school districts and to expand the programming and expand funding opportunities. And so the mission is to educate youth and show them firsthand, you know, where their fruits and vegetables come from and all about agriculture and using the uh Texas longhorns, you know, for genetic um lessons and the history of Texas and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 4:43

And these so the origins date back to 1996 when NASA, the CCISD, the T O BAA, and the um HLSR all came together. Can you walk us through those early days, who or what sparked the idea, um, what the first field trips looked like and what some of the uh early challenges were? Yes, it's a great story.

SPEAKER_02 5:04

So uh the center director at the time was George W. S. Abbey. And um he had a picture of cattle grazing on the land that was once owned by West Ranch, James Merion West, uh senior. And um he said, you know, there was another man that he worked with that was actually with a contractor with, I believe, Lockheed, who was uh a member of the TLBAA. He says, you know, I think we need to put Longhorns out here to honor our Texas heritage and to expand and to provide an area for our school district to uh have an agriculture program and a STEM program. And so uh Donald Lynn was the member that worked was with the TLBAA, and he said, I can help you get some some trophy steers. And so he got with the TLBAA and they donated the first trophy steers. And so shortly after that, George Abbey called um our school district, Clare Creek Independent School District, and talked to the superintendent, Dr. John Wilson. He said, Well, what do you know about longhorns? He said, I have a whole ag department. And so um the FFA students were the first students that actually took care of the longhorns. And shortly after that, uh uh Dr. Sandra Mossman, who was the assistant superintendent at the time, then came the superintendent, she says, We need to make this educational field trip program. And she had a lady named Sandy Peck, who actually had worked for uh Georgia Abbey previously, write the first curriculum. And so the curriculum is based on the the Longhorns. I use them for the genetic lessons and the history of Texas because it's written for the, at that time it was written for the third and seventh grade teaks, the Texas Essential Knowledge Skills, and now it's written for the fourth grade TEAKS. But um, they wrote the curriculum, and then all the third and seventh graders started coming for CCSD, started coming to the field trip. And it's a four-part field trip program, and it starts with uh they when the students come out that they divide it into groups of 25, you know, we may get a hundred at a time, and they'll divide into groups of twenty-five, and ones that starts with the longhorns, and they get their lessons on the longhorns, and then they get to go down into the barn and feed them cubes and pet them and look at all the different variations and the colors and the horns of the longhorns. And another group will go over to our seven-acre garden and they learn all about gardening, ag uh aqua aquaculture, um, soil, soil um management, and they get to see learn about native plants and um um our pollination, and they get to see firsthand how their fruits and vegetables are grown, which is, you know, sometimes a well eye-opener for these third and fourth graders. And then they have another uh we have the lab where they learn about uh the circle of life and they collect specimens from the garden and they get to look at the specimens under the microscope, and then we take them over to the George W. S. Abbey Rocket Park, and they learn all about space exploration. They we do a lesson on the Apollo and the Mercury era, and they get to see their Saturn V rocket, and so they get their lesson on space exploration. So that curriculum was written, um, and we continue to expand it, you know, as things progress. But that's how the field trip program got started.

SPEAKER_01 8:14

That's uh that's quite a bit that you offer these kids, which is really great. So as you look toward the 30-year anniversary, what have been some of the most defining moments or turning points in the program's history?

SPEAKER_02 8:27

Well, I mean, you know, you know, from the earlier days, and we we didn't really tie into um how the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo got involved, but the main, the four partners were um NASA Johnson Space Center, the Clare Creek Independent School District, the TLBAA by helping get us our first set of Longhorns, and the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. They brought they helped uh build some of our first structures out there through some grant money and like our barn. And um eventually they built what we have a beautiful uh outdoor pavilion and a brick pavilion, and uh they built that in 2000, and that's where we have a lot of our events and uh where the students come for their first that they gather for their field trip. But that's how the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo got involved, and we continue to um, you know, uh apply for grants through the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo. And of course, we go to the Houston Livestock Show and Rodeo uh show every year, you know, for our Longhorn show. Um so um um that's how that's how the four partners came together. And so what are we looking forward to? Um so the defining moments. So, well, I think the defining moments was, you know, first, you know, when it kicked off in 1996, it was it was unbelievable that we would have something like this at NASA. And then years later, um, you know, CCISD ran it for 20 years. I guess the defining moment was when we created the 511C to uh expand this program to all school districts, all school types, um, Girl Scouts, Boy Scouts, adult you know, groups, things like that. And um, and so when we created the 501c and CCI transfer the program to the to the nonprofit is uh was a was a big step. And that allowed us again to expand the program to all schools. So now we have several different schools that come out there, and we have different organizations, youth organizations that come, adult organizations, and then we're able to start our summer youth camp, and then we'll, you know, that I think most people know us because of the show team, and we've been showing uh longhorns on the show circuit for almost 30 years, and um, you know, that that continues to evolve.

SPEAKER_01 10:37

So the facility is at roughly 20 acres, and uh 18 of that is pasture for the barns, the garden plots, the native prairie gardens, um the aquaculture ponds, the science lab. I mean, it sounds like you all have pretty much everything there. Um, how do you think that physical environment um adds to the learning experience for students versus them, I guess, just reading about it, you know, in a textbook?

SPEAKER_02 11:02

It's hands-on, it's it's experiential. And so um, you know, you can you can watch, we even have a five-minute video on the program that's on our website. But until you get out there and you see it and you smell it and you can touch it, I said it's a huge difference. You can only learn so much through a textbook. And um, we're we're you know, for years it was just the third and seventh graders that came. But when we uh when we took over um in 2015, shortly after, we switched it to just the fourth graders because the teaks, you know, evolve over time, the text essential knowledge skills evolve over time, and our program had evolved, and they said it was more appropriate for the fourth grader. Although we we for all of the schools uh other than CCSD, we do third through twelfth grade. So when we start moved to fourth grade, the teachers said this is the best field trip that they've ever been on. And so because it's so experiential, and you're getting lessons on agriculture and and and space exploration, how those tie together. And um, and so it's just uh something that you're not gonna see anywhere in the world. First of all, you're never gonna see a longhorn with a space shuttle in a in a and a rocket in one panoramic view. I mean, so it's just unlike anything else in the world.

SPEAKER_01 12:13

How do you select and manage the herd of the Texas Longhorns for the program and how are they integrated into um all the educational activities?

SPEAKER_02 12:48

Well, so um I love this story, you know. So over the years it's evolved. But when um when when Henry and I took over um the program in 2015, we were looking for some new breeders, you know, to be in our program. And so I've seen in um, I guess the TLB magazine they were having an ST at South Texas Longhorn Association meeting in Bastroph. And so I remember calling and asking, hey, you know, can we come? And they're like, well, of course. And I said, so you know, where they said, bring a covered dish. And I said, well, we're traveling kind of far. Can I just send some money? And she says, Well, of course. So we went, and um, I believe at that time, you know, Christian John Randolph were very involved, and Suzanne Perry and um uh Sandy Nordhausen. And so we went, we took the show team with us, and we went to our first STLE medium best drop, and I was asked to get up and talk about it. And so I did. And afterward, John Randolph and the Tudics, and so many people came up to Henry and said, How do I get in the program? And so that was really like, oh wow. So from that one meeting, we met so many breeders, and afterward, we actually went to uh John and Christy's ranch, and he says, Here's what I have, and he started showing us the longhorns, and we're like, Oh, so the show team was here, so we got to help select which longhorns we want in our program. And that's kind of how it helped. And then shortly after, we know we met some more breeders at different shows, the Krauseys, uh, Brett and Teresa Krause and the Haglers, and we would go to their ranches and they'd pin up the animals and say, This is what I have, and we would basically just do some shopping and look around, and we would just try to get the best of the best. And that's how we built our our show herd, and and like Jeremy uh Johnson with uh Rancho Dos Ninos and um and just so many more. The the Torquelsons, you know, with Bull Creek Ranch, we would go to their ranches and they would just show us what they had and we would build our our herd from from visiting uh the ranches. And then one of my funny, one of my good stories is a friend of mine that lived in Clear Lake, Angela and Daryl Vivense on the Pet Palace, they wanted to donate some money to our program. And I said, With y'all being in the pet palace business, I said, Y'all need to buy a low horn. And so she's like, Well, how do I start? And so I introduced her to uh sit uh Christy and uh Christy and John Randolph, and we studied these longhorns for minty weeks before she decided to pick ginger. Ginger ended up being like a 15-time grand champion female uh on the show circuit, and she's just the most gorgeous Longhorn. And since then they have sold their pet palace and they live in Hico now with their own Longhorn ranch. So that's kind of a full moment story, you know. But uh that's kind of how we did it. We would just meet breeders and and go to their ranches and see what they had and and try to pick the best of the best.

SPEAKER_01 15:35

So let's talk about the um curriculum now with these with STEM and agriculture. So you've educated over a hundred thousand students through hands-on lessons in history and genetics of the Texas Longhorns, um, agriculture related to the native Texas plants, fruits, vegetables, soil education, natural habitats, um, the aquaculture, um, and all the other things. I'm sure I've missed something, but there's you can fill us in. Um, tell us about one or two memorable student experiences that showcase how the program changes perspectives on agriculture andor STEM.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Well, I can tell you from my son's own experience. My son um was in the program for two years, and um he uh, you know, I think he wanted to try out, well, he tried out for the golf tournament and he missed it by two points. And we're like, okay, but what else can he get into? Well, he met some of the ag students in high school, and so he began he got into FFA, and then shortly after I was on the board, he tried out for the Longhorn Project, got on it. And so that was the most natural fit for him ever. So it's like when one door shuts, another one opens. And so after he uh graduated from high school, he went to Texas AM and he got his degree in ag leadership and development and uh with the emphasis in construction science. And um, and so now he works for a very large general contractor, JORES, that builds schools and they're and uh ATBs and things like that. And so he was able to apply, you know, what he learned through his ag leadership and development program with the emphasis in construction science to have, you know, the career that he has now as a superintendent and project manager for for JORS. So this was all, you know, through the inspiration me and and through him showing, we met so many wonderful leaders in the business that, you know, going to all these ranches and learning, you know, the different backgrounds and the careers that these ranchers had before they became unhorn ranchers was just, you know, so amazing, you know, and so you know, that prepared him for the uh a world in the profession I mean for a professional career.

SPEAKER_01 17:42

So one little decision on not making the golf team completely changed. Changed his course of life.

SPEAKER_02 17:49

Yes, it did. It did. That's pretty cool. And then we had two other students that were on the show team, and um, and they they this was early on, and both of them, one of them had no background in agriculture, the other one had already raised, you know, different uh chickens and goats and things like that for uh 4-H and and uh an FFA. And so they were on a show team, and uh one of them, uh the boy ended up going to uh to Tarleton for a degree in agriculture education. He thought he wanted to be a teacher, and the other one went to um uh I think she in a uh at uh West Texas AM, but they were on, I know she was on the livestock j judging team, and you know, both of them graduated, and lo and behold, both of them worked for the USDA in uh uh Sioux City, um Iowa. Iowa. And um, and they worked for the USDA grading meat, grading the the uh the beef, you know, so that was kind of a a full circle moment for them too. And actually the boy just changed uh Chase, he just came down last week to to visit and say hi to Henry and I. And uh it was just like a you know, kind of a chill that that uh you know this was part of his um career.

SPEAKER_01 19:04

And almost like a warm, proud parent um experience too, with him coming back to you. Yes, yes. Okay, so many of our listeners are longhorn breeders with ranches, they know the cattle side of things, but perhaps they know maybe a little bit less about how that links to STEM, space, and youth. Um how do you connect the dots in your curriculum?

SPEAKER_02 19:25

So, I mean, you know, the main thing is like we have the show team, we have our our fieldship program, we have our summer youth camp. And through all those different um uh programs, the they learn about agriculture and then they learn about STEM. And so STEM is like, you know, through almost everything science, technology, engineering, and math. And so um how we apply it is is, you know, especially when they learn about you know space exploration and they and they have their lesson on the rockets, they learn about inertia and thrust and and how things, you know, about the moon landing and about the you know, the re-entry, they learn all about the science behind that. And um, one of the things that they learn about is all the byproducts that we use every day from um space exploration, such as memory foam, that was created to cushion the astronaut seats, you know, back in 1996 for a landing. The scratch-resistant uh film that you have on like the goggles for the helmet uh is like the well, the UVA uh protection is now what we use in eyeglasses, and the scratch-resistant film that goes on the helmets is using eyeglasses. And then like the wireless communication that we knew now use for Bluetooth was all created for NASA. So they learned that all the things that we um use every day in our life and how that and how that came through the space exploration side. But um, and then of course they learn all about the different machinery that's used in in agriculture and um and how that how that applies. But everything, you know, that we use in life is going to be built on STEM STEM principles, and so we just tie that all together.

SPEAKER_01 21:37

So, what role do the FFA or other students play in the program? You know, how do they help, um, how does it help them build build real-world ranch management or animal husbandry skills?

SPEAKER_02 21:50

So we have like we have our show team and then we have you know volunteers. And so for the show team, um, you know, they help take care of the animals, you know, they they come out, and even our volunteer, our volunteer students, uh, they help weigh and measure the animals and do the worming and the shots and everything. Matter of fact, this Sunday we have a work day with a combination of our show team and our volunteers. And so they learn everything from taking care of the animals on that level to halter breaking them, walking them, grooming them, but they also take care of the ranch. We do lots of fence repairs, um, you know, we fix water systems, we fix electrical. So they learn a little bit about everything on the ranch. So, you know, and I also am a mentor for independent study mentor program through uh Clare Creek Independent School District. And so we have students that come out, they might want to go into veterinarian, they might want to go into ranch management. And so they learn the whole gamut, you know, from you know, cleaning the pens to fixing the fixing the fences, you know. So almost every aspect of what you have to do as a rancher, they get to experience and figure out, you know, if this is something that they want to do and continue. And then we have another group of volunteers that come out and they just work in the garden, you know, so they help, you know, with the weeding, the planting. Um last year we were able to renovate our garden. Did it, we did a complete renovation of it, and we dedicated it to Dr. Mossman, who was our champion and trailblazer for our field trip program. And that was a a real warm, fuzzy moment to be able to do that because she was the inspiration behind our field trip program. And so we had probably 50 volunteers one day that just basically transformed the garden in one weekend. And so that was a lot of fun. So they get all kinds of experience.

SPEAKER_01 23:37

Sounds like it. Well, let's talk about some of the um traditions and the culture. Um, so what traditions or signature events have grown um around the Longhorn Project over the last thing 30 some years?

SPEAKER_02 23:51

So, I mean, you know, besides the field trips and the summer youth camps, uh, we have different like organizations like the the UT X Texas X's. They come, this will be their second or third year, they come and they volunteer. And so we look forward to those groups that like to come every year to help, you know, volunteer. But then annually we have a um a we have a couple of fundraisers, and um, usually the first week of December, we have our volunteer appreciation luncheon this year. We um changed it up a little bit because it's our 30 year anniversary, and we had a two-day event first, starting at the Butler Longhorn Museum in Kima, which um uh we enjoy partnering with, and um and then we had a very nice party at that event, and then we had a full-day event at the Longhorn Project with like 125 people. But those, but then we usually have an annual bingo fundraiser. So there's a few things that we have annually that kind of are our signature events that people look forward to, and you know, we plan for those almost all year long. We're already planning for our April event, so we'll talk about that too.

SPEAKER_01 24:55

So, what tools or technology have you introduced in the past few years or plan to introduce in the future to enhance the educational experience with the cattle, the land, um, or the STEM labs?

SPEAKER_02 25:08

So, of course, you know, like for the for the summer youth camp kids, we have, you know, um iPads and we do like plant identification and we look at you know disease and you know, sort of what we need to do to, you know, put the the plant, you know, plant the plants in the right area, is it shade or not shade, water not water? So we use we use the the the technology, the iPads for that and the app for that. And then there's just um, you know, of course, we you know we have a website and we use all the social media platforms to promote our program and to um to engage the audience. And then um, you know, we would like to probably use more technology, but you know, on a small ranch and we're out there every day, you kind of sometimes don't need to. But of course we would love to have sensors, you know, for our for on our water troughs to make sure we know when they do go out. We we had a water trough uh valve that had been there for way before I got there, maybe. No, it's been there about it was like out there about 15 years. And one day I see this flood and I think it's a broken pipe at NASA. No, the long horns had knocked off the water valve, you know, the float valve. And so that would have been nice to know sooner than later if we had had a sensor on it. So we would, you know, we want to use more technology, but being there every day, sometimes we we just kind of don't, and we don't have, you know, Wi-Fi and out there, but but um, but that's yeah, that's something how we use the technology.

SPEAKER_01 26:28

Well, let's talk a little bit more um about the um marketing and the celebration of 30 years. So as you celebrate the 30-year milestone, um, how are you marking that with the community, um, whether that's through like the sponsors, the alumni, um, or the students?

SPEAKER_02 26:45

Thanks for asking. So, like I said, we just had our 30-year kickoff party, which was a Longhorn um uh Silver Buckle Longhorn Weekend. And that was a kickoff party, and that we we did uh we did that through marketing. Uh I'm involved with the two chambers here, the Clear Lake Chamber, the League City Chamber, Bay Hap, which is our Bay Area Houston Economic Partnership, very involved in those organizations, and that's a great way to meet new people who are interested in supporting youth education and in any aspect. And so we did a lot of marketing through that. And now those sponsors, you know, we will we will reach out to them to help sponsor our silver buckle ball, which is on April the 18th, 2026. It's going to be held at the Hilton here in Nassau Bay. And so we'll continue to market through those avenues. It'll be on our Facebook, and I will be reaching out to lots of different, you know, our past breeders and and uh past sponsors and and just meeting new people and continue to um to um market that. And um, and if anybody out there is listening, um we are looking for sponsors to help grow this program and to help it continue to sustain it. And so we would love to talk to anybody um that's that's um interested in coming or sponsoring. And we also have individual event tickets too, so you can buy an event ticket, or you can just buy, we have a buckle campaign, and so we're also selling these beautiful, one-of-a-kind buckles that I have been designing for years. But this is actually a picture of our Longhorn JSC, uh CBL JSC George Abbey, and there's a rocket and a shuttle in our logo over here, and so this is part of our campaign, and with all the sponsorships, you get a buckle, and depending on what level of sponsorship you have, the more buckles you get. So, buckles, we have a VIP sponsor party and things like that. But this is part of our campaign, and it's been posted on our Facebook, The Longhorn Project at Johnson Space Center. It's also on our website, thelonghornproject.com. So, and we have information about our sponsorship, um, uh, our silver buckle ball on the website as well. And after the first of the year, we'll be kicking off that on social media as well.

SPEAKER_01 29:01

So, for those people that do want to get involved, the best place for them to go would be to the website, um, because you'll have everything linked there for tickets and donations and all that.

SPEAKER_02 29:11

Right. They can just link, they can just click on the order form and they can they can you know order a sponsorship, individual tickets, purchase a buckle, but of course my phone number is on the website um so they can contact me. And um, and also too, there's a contact form on the website so they can contact me, and the website is hosted by a hired hand. Um, and they can go through that and you know, I don't mind, you know, my my email address is the longhornproject at yahoo.com. That's easy to remember. Or they can, you know, call me through the phone number that's on the on the website. You know, but we would love to talk to more breeders who haven't, you know, heard about us. Um, you know, one thing with the show circuit, you know, we we uh I look back over the years and we have probably connected with over a hundred, you know, breeders that we represented their animals on the show circuit, maybe up to 400 animals. And, you know, this has been past for the past, you know, 20, probably just 20 years, and we traveled thousands and thousands of miles, you know, with kids and these longhorns promoting all these ranches. And so um, and we've met so many tremendous people on the show circuit, whether it be showing or for charity shows um or the uh millennium show, we we just meet the the best people um on the show circuit. Um, and hopefully we can reconnect through this um podcast to say, hey, you know, we would love for to get more people involved. And then it's not even if it's not even financially, it's maybe through donations. You know, we're always looking for great farm equipment. You know, we have a tractor that's from 1996, and it actually still runs. Um, but you know, we always are looking for, you know, some hands, uh some special equipment for special projects and things like that. So we just have lots of needs, you know, we're on we're running a ranch, and it's you know, anybody out there that knows, it's it costs a lot of money. And so for us to fundraise all of that and to help, you know, pay for the help that we have, it it's quite an endeavor, you know. So we would welcome all the help that we get.

SPEAKER_01 31:50

So you mentioned a little bit earlier um the uh Meet the Breeders page, which is on your website where you know there you have some of those people who have donated or loaned animals um to the program um there. So can you um talk about how the donated or animals that they've loaned to the program um how they have shaped the herd, the genetics that they represent, um, and the student experience?

SPEAKER_02 32:15

Right. So there's a couple of breeders uh on our website right now that continue to sponsor one way or another. Like I said, we have we've had tons of them. Um Jim Iman, who owns our grand champion trophy steer, Hercules, um, he called me about five years ago and said he had a a little steer that he wanted to put in the program. And I was thinking, oh, we have two men. I said, but we'll see. So he brought the the Longhorn to a show and we fell in love with it. And he, as a six-month-old, was a champion. He's been a champion numerous times over. He's a TLBAA champion two times in 22 and 24, and in its Houston Livestock Show on Rodeo 24, and he just won the ITLA uh trophy steer in uh in October at the championship show. So um, so the breeders, you know, like uh I mentioned, um with the the the the relationship is they loan them to the project, and um they basically pay for all their care, the show entry fees, the vet fees, things like that. And so on the average, it cost about$2,700 to$3,000 a year, and half of that's probably show fees, and the other uh half is probably you know the care for the longhorns. And we will have breeders like the Randolphs and the Thurmans, put in five animals. You know, some will put in one, so two, three, and so um, and so that's kind of how it works, and we just build them monthly, and they pay their invoice, and it's basically a pass-through on our feed and our vet build and things like that. And and then we also sell um trailer sponsorships, and we have people that sponsor the back of the trailer, the sides of the trailer, the the logos on the trailer, and that helps fund our travel, you know, because everybody knows all this costs quite a bit of money for the hotel stage and the and the diesel and all that. So, and then we also, you know, partnered with um uh McCree Ford, uh Mitchell Dale, he was one of our big sponsors when my son was in the program, and then we leased the trucks from him for one of our trucks from him for years because we were taking two trailers, two 30-foot trailers with about 25 animals to all these shows around Texas, Oklahoma, Louisiana, and so on, and you know, and staying overnight in hotels. And so that's that you know cost quite a bit. So through the trailer sponsorship, um we were able to do that travel.

SPEAKER_01 34:45

So the animals, when people loan them to your the long term project, they live right there at your facility.

SPEAKER_02 34:52

Yes. Well, we have we have two like herds. We have our trophy steer. Well, we should call it trophy steer herd, but it's actually got some mama cows out there. They're there basically for life. And they and then we have a bull that that's used as our sire that actually we bought from the Randolphs. Um, they had Chocolate Chip, who was a grand champion female, and Jeremy had his bull that was a drag iron grandson, Arnogan, and Chocolate Chip had a a little bull cat. I love the story. And so they're like, uh it was the most beautiful bull you ever want to see. And so we jump, we asked John, so my son wants to buy this little bull. He says, Okay, so it was like super cheap. Well, this little bull won grand champion as a six-month-old and continued to win on the show circuit. And at the fraturity at the TLBAA, he came in reserve grand champion and and beat John's bull. And we looked, and my husband looked next over to John and said, Hey, you want to buy a bull? And uh, it was kind of funny. But so, so uh his name was Iron Ogin. I mean Iron Kettle. And so Iron Kettle is our sire. And then for the ones that, you know, because he's had so many out there, we take others to get AI'd, you know. But um, but yeah, so that's how we so we have our trophy steer herd with our mama cows out there and our bull on one side, and then we have our what we call our show team animals. And so they come every day and every day to feed, and that's when we alter break them and walk them and things like that. And the show herd, we tend to those as well, you know, but we kind of have them two different sort of programs for them.

SPEAKER_01 36:24

So when somebody agrees to do this, is it a commitment of like one year, two years? What does that look like?

SPEAKER_02 36:32

Well, so we and we it's we start it started out as a show season, but then we quickly learned that oh no, we need this was a grand champion female, we need to keep her. So we they would so like I don't know if y'all know who Miss Dolly not partners is, but that was one of the Randolphs, we got her as a five and a half month old, and she stayed with us until she was almost five years old. And she had several calves at our program because she was winning the same thing with ginger, uh, that the Bibbins owned, is that as they if they're winning on the show circuit and doing well, then we'll just keep them year-round. And then if for some reason they didn't quite work out, we'll do a trade out and try another one. But that's kind of how we do it. We'll have several of them for many years until until they um have until we can no longer show them. They were like with dolly, it was just time for her to go home and and um and uh we we showed her through mature, you know, mature females. So um they can stay as long as they want, you know, as long as as long as they're doing well. So um, you know, we want it to be a win-win for the breeders and for the students, you know. So, and then like with all these, all these pro these shows that these um show team go to, because they're going to different affiliate shows and to the the majors, like TLA, TLBA, and then affiliate shows, they earn lots of ribbons and buckles and awards and things like that. And then they can apply for scholarships through all of these different affiliates. And that's that's sort of another thing that we really push is that you know, you need to to apply for all these scholarships, and they do, and they usually win them. But another big thing that we have them do is they have, you know, through the TLBAA, they have what they call Hall of Fame points. And what one reason one way you can earn points is not just by showing and being in showmanship, but you can also do speeches. And so our students have to do the 30 speeches a year to earn more points. And so we have them on a schedule so that they do speeches. It can be to a group of two or three people or a larger group, but this helps them get the word out about the Longhorn breed and about why we are at NASA and what this means to the Longhorn industry. And so, you know, we have some kind of canned speeches for them, but we we say keep them on schedule so they are do they are learning to speak in front of people and also to to promote the the history and the preservation legacy of the longhorns.

SPEAKER_01 38:55

Definitely sounds like they leave the program um with skills that are going to take them far into adulthood, not just something that benefits them, you know, now at the time when they're in grade school or you know, when they're doing that. So that's really neat that you all do that. Um, how do you choose the um the animals from the different ranches? Is it something where you go out and choose an animal that you want, or is it more the ranch says, you know, here here's here's the animal I'd like you to have?

SPEAKER_02 39:24

So um, so most of them um we go to their ranches and they have them pinned for us. And then uh we'll we'll kind of and then we'll ride the ranches and we'll look at all of them, and we just they'll have some pinned for us and say, This is what we think, and we will usually bring the show team kids with us and we will just kind of evaluate them and then we'll we'll pick them. And so um uh uh oh what's his name? Uh uh Molinex. Um, Ronnie Molinex. We'll run well okay. So his son-in-law, Dr. Philip Peterson and his wife have a vet clinic right down from us like a mile from us. So Dr. Peterson is our ranch, is our vet for our longhorns, unless we need to do x-rays or AI, we take them someplace else. Over into to uh to uh Gulf Coast Large Animal Clinic. And um, and so when we drive up to Ronnie Malogsa place, he has that one animal pin, that one animal, and we're like, can't we look around? He's like, Yeah, you know, so we'll ride his ranch, and guess what? We always pick that one he pin. So, but the other ones, you know, we'll we'll just look around and and we'll kind of evaluate what we think is going to be for the show circuit. And then what we like to do is we like to have each one of the kids have a junior, uh, female, a senior female, a steer, and a bull. So they may be showing four animals. So we try to get enough to have them throughout the show. They get an experience with, you know, the different different uh uh sexes and and um they learn about the different how they grow, you know, the their characteristics, and um, and so we try to get them one from each each uh division.

SPEAKER_01 41:03

So many breeders have told us how they really like being involved um with the Longhorn Project because our cattle get to help, you know, educate the youth. From your side of things, how does that impact um that how does the impact of their support have on the day-to-day operations or the curriculum that you give these youth?

SPEAKER_02 41:23

Well, I mean, you know, for the for the field trip program, it just means we have more animals out them for them to see. And we always look, you know, talk about, you know, color confirmation and horn, and we look at the differences in in in in the in the animals, you know. So that's a great visual um uh aspect. But um, you know, it's like it's just a partnership. I mean, it's kind of like we want to promote, you know, the long horns. We want the youth to get the experience, and they want the same thing. And so it also helps promote their ranches and what they want to do for youth. And a lot of these breeders, they would love to be doing this on their own, but because, you know, they don't maybe have kids or grandkids that want to show. Now they got some pseudo kids that want to show, so kids, pseudo-grandkids that want to show. And it's just a great relationship. I mean, it's like they um they are in this business because they want their long horn business to perpetuate, they want other people to join. And this is the way you do it. You start at the ground level and you just work on up. And um, you know, I was just telling Christian Jonathan, next time you'll have a work day, I got a bunch of kids that want to come help. You know, they want to go, they want to contribute back too. It's not all about, you know, just give, give, give. They want to be involved in their ranches as well. And we've hosted um, you know, through the STLA, we've because I was on that board as uh as well for a couple of years, and we've hosted lots of um uh annual meetings at different ranches, the Randolph's, the um Haglers, the the Krause's um to to uh showcase their ranches, you know, and and I I believe we did one at Bull Creek at one time early on, you know, but this helps showcase their animal and get more people excited about the breed and and help perpetuate, you know, people wanting to get involved.

SPEAKER_01 43:08

So over the last 30 years, um is there, you know, one or two mo standout moments that really demonstrated the heart of the longhorn community that you want to talk about?

SPEAKER_02 43:19

Well, I mean, you know, it's um well, uh this is, you know, when we go to shows and we're bringing 25 animals and maybe four or five kids, and if we have six or seven, eight in a drive, we're looking around like, can you show for us? Can you show for us? And so we've met so many wonderful families and kids who want to help us. I mean, it's and that's what I like about this is that, you know, a lot of um showing, you know, in different animals, it's so, so competitive. You know, but in the longhorn business, it's such a friendly environment and friendly people that they don't mind stepping in to help you show, you know, a calf at sight or a calf in the, you know, uh in the in the drive, even though they may we may have beat them. They're just willing to step up and help us. And the parents are wonderful. I mean, it's just the greatest, you know, experience that we've had. And I think that's one thing that, you know, it's really, I think, just kind of warms our heart is is knowing that we have this huge network of of friends out there that want to see us succeed and we want to see them succeed, you know. So uh, yeah, we we have lots of fun on the show circuit with um, you know, and it's like this time they may win, next time we may win, but it's it's all in good fun. And the whole show I'm texting the breeders who won, who won, and you know, it's just it's just a fun, it's just a fun thing.

SPEAKER_01 44:41

So out of all of the kids that are there, you know, taking um part in in the Longhorn Project, how many of them would you say have any sort of background of agriculture before they come in? Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 44:54

Before they come in, very few. Like, well, right now we have the the three con the McCullough girls, um, they live in Huffman and they actually have their own longhorns. And then many people know Brooke. Um, she was an act teacher, now she works at Oil and Gas, and her husband, Stephen. Um, those three girls show for us now. And so um they have their own longhorns, they have their own little ranch in Huffman. And so they will come out periodically, if they'll be here Sunday, to help us with uh working the cattle. And, you know, they'll come out and and help take care of them. And then uh, but they come, they pick up, they'll bring their two or three, they'll pick up our trailer with our with our load. and they will go to the shows. And so we started doing that last year because Henry and I are getting a little bit up there and um and uh it's it's a we needed a break from the the showing just so we could continue to develop here locally our program and everything. And we was too good, we all we went to the IT Light Championship and we actually um trailered some up there. But we uh we're partnering with you know with uh uh Brooke and Steven and the three girls and one thing I wanted to say about the about the girls these girls have been showing for us since they were uh 10 11 years old I'd asked Brooke if uh one of them if Whitney could show for us and and because we're going to a show in East Texas and we needed another person to go with us and she said yeah but uh Waverly really wants to go and I said well how old is she she's like 10 I said 10? Well I thought Whitney was twel well fifteen because she's so tall she's only 11. Man these girls can do anything I mean they're they are just amazing and then about two years ago the youngest one started um Wembley and so they're just the the greatest kids and they can do anything and they're just a a wonderful and like through you're talking about speech you know all these different associations you know um have speech contests and these girls they are knocking it out of the park you know with their art contests and their photo contests and their speeches and it's just so wonderful seeing and a lot of our kids through the years have done that. And one thing that we really push with these kids like I said is to do in the 30 speeches, you know, so they can learn how to speak you know to the public about the Longhorns but most of them win hall of fame you know in the top 10 for the hall of fame and that's a big accomplishment on our side because we want to see for all this hard work that we're all doing, we want to see you get in that hall of fame, you know, um top 10 for your for your division. And so um yeah it's it's right.

SPEAKER_01 47:28

So since so many of the breeders that support you also use Hired hand um to manage their herds and websites um this maybe feels like a natural place for us to talk about how technology plays into your program's visibility and the outreach that you have. So many of our listeners are hobby ranchers or breeders of registered Texas Longhorns and they know the value of managing information like pedigrees and events and marketing in what ways does the Longhorn project use technology, software or other marketing strategies to promote your program and the cattle.

SPEAKER_02 48:03

Yeah yeah so I mean we we use you know horns yeah for the TLBA to to write you know to for my personal animals and and to look up information on the other animals. We um we um one of my students that was for the independent study mentorship, he created for us personally a spreadsheet that I can log in the growth, the the uh the horn measurement and the weight um every month when we weigh them so we can see their growth over time. And then I share that with the breeder so they can take that information and they can log it into their systems like hired hand or or horns to to stay up with it. You know, um so we provide that every month to the breeders so they can um so they can use that. And then of course you know through you know we do a lot of we do a lot of posting on um on on Facebook and Instagram about the animals and and you know right now this one right here this is actually a painting of uh Buckaroo Iron Hercules our grand champion trophies deer and we just keep on posting about his horn growth he's now 107 inches tip to tip you know and so we will you know post any kind of significant growth you know on our our Facebook and and the breeders can also use that you know on their websites to promote their herds and so um that's basically how we use it.

SPEAKER_01 49:28

So um looking ahead and we'll wrap wrap this up I could talk to you much longer about some of the kids and the things that you do. It sounds like a fantastic program. But what goals or vision do you have for the Longhorn project in the next five to 10 years, especially um after the 30 year celebration of this year?

SPEAKER_02 49:49

So I mean the what we we um you know when the school district transitioned it to us in 2015 16 it was with no financial backing. And so we basically started a new business and so we have to fundraise all of our money. And then when we went through a government shutdown what we just recently went through for almost two months well eight almost like seven weeks we could not we couldn't raise money so we we lost several you know several thousand dollars in in revenue and then when we had the uh the COVID pandemic in 2019 we didn't raise money for almost nine months so as we look ahead what I'm trying to do right now is continue to build my board of people who want to help us make the connections to help fundraise get grants donations and things like that to make this a state of art facility you know it's a 38, 30 year ranch and so you know of course things get run down. So we spend quite a bit of money on capital expenditures we need more money to make this place continue throughout the years. So in 30 years we want to build the board we want to continue to expand programming right now we have a contract with CCISD, Clair Creek Independent School District where all the fourth graders come we have a lot of other schools that come FFA groups things like that but we want to get another contract with the school so we have a more steady income. And then with the summer youth camp we um we we have we keep it at two weeks you know and and um but we keep on expanding what the kids do because some of these kids have been back two and three years. So we have to always change up our our our summer camp to make it interesting. And as far as the show team we know we've kind of taken a little bit of a pause on how we're doing it but hopefully you know in years to come we can get back to having our own show team on campus where they come every day and help take care of the Longhorns and go back to to many more shows. And so um you know and also too like we have trophy steers out there and we've you know they age out you know they die of natural causes and so we always you know are maybe bringing on one or two more that can help you know with our uh with our trophy steer pasture and um so the next 30 years I look at building the board building more programming you know avenues for more students you know avenues for more for more grants and things like that.

SPEAKER_01 52:19

Well and then finally um for people who are listening if there is you know an event that you suggest that people should mark on their calendars what do you think if you had to pick out of the whole year what should be something that they attend to get kind of the um full picture of the Longhorn project?

SPEAKER_02 52:37

April 18th 2026 at our silver buckle ball at the Nassau Bay Hilton the day after I'm gonna have everybody who comes to the silver buckle ball on the gate list so they can actually come to the Longhorn project and see it firsthand, especially for the people out of town. But starting in January the first two weeks of January we have many field trips I will be reaching out to potential sponsors and have them you know come out and see the Longhorn project so they can see I've already had several people say they are committee to sponsoring it but I want them to come see it firsthand before they make that decision on what level so they know exactly what they're getting into and they can help promote it to other businesses and their friends and things like that if they know more about it. So April 18th is a silver buckle ball is going to be a you know your best western bling bling and um we have uh two major bands from Houston that will be playing well one's pretty much nationally known um uh Uba Dorvik he's a a uh a country western plant he's played with all the major entertainers um in the world and then another band's called the Alan Oldies and they're like the big Houston staple big band music and then we have some other musicians Lance Covington and Jason Alcorn who are doing our VIP party but it's going to be a big blowout party and um it's gonna be a lot of fun and be a great place for breeders to to meet each other and to help support us but you know we're gonna have discounted rooms at the Nassau Bay Hilton and again like we'll have an event on Sunday at the Longhorn project for the breeders to come oversee. But anybody that wants to come before then all they'd have to do is contact me and we can set something up you know for them to come out and see us. But you know the breeders that we've had in our program for many years have been just wonderful to us and and we always love re-engaging with them and um and keeping those contexts solid.

SPEAKER_01 54:34

Well Andrea thank you so much for sharing the story of the Longhorn Project thank you your passion for youth and the unique ways um you continue to combine the heritage of the cattle STEM education and ranching. Listeners if you're looking to support our next generation of ag ambassadors or you want your herd link to impact beyond the past year this is one program to watch visit the longhornproject.com or you can contact Andrea. Until next time remember to appreciate the pastures you roam and the traditions that make them special. Thank you