SPEAKER_01 0:00

Hi there, I'm Molly. 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. 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. Welcome to this episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand. Today we're heading to Central Alabama to visit Toller Longhorns in Prattville, home to a registered Texas Longhorn herd being built by a fourth-generation cattle family with a very different breed than their ancestors raised. I'm your host, Molly Club, and I'm excited to take you on another journey into the world of Texas Longhorns and the breeders who care for them with today's guests, Reed and Ashley Toller. Welcome. Thank you both.

SPEAKER_00 1:01

Yeah, thank you for having us.

SPEAKER_01 1:04

Well, why don't you give us kind of the general overview? Who are you both? Uh, where are you? What is Toller Longhorns? All of those details.

SPEAKER_00 1:13

Well, basically, we're Reed and Ashley Toller. We're in central Alabama, a little town called Prattville, just outside of Montgomery, which is the state capital. We have a four-year-old son. His name is Watson. We've been married this year, will be 17 years, and we've been doing the Longhorns, I guess, probably for close to nine years now.

SPEAKER_01 1:35

So as I understand it, your family has been in cattle for four generations in Alabama. Um, it started with dairy and then moved to commercial beef, and you all are the ones who pivoted into registered longhorns. What did that conversation and that process look like?

SPEAKER_00 1:52

Yeah, it was kind of, I guess, funny because I did grow up. My great-grandfather was a dairy farmer, then my grandfather was a dairy farmer, and he swapped to commercial beef. My dad bought out the commercial beef operation when my grandfather retired. And it was basically going to end there because I did not want anything to do with cows. I had no desire being the the h hired help. And um, so I just didn't enjoy them. But when Ashley and I got married, she had a background in horses. Um, and so she lived out in the country and had some land, and we purchased some property from her grandmother, but we were cutting grass all the time and bush hogging pastures, and and finally I just decided, you know what? When I grew up, we had cows and they kept the pastures mowed down for us. So why don't we get a few cows and just kind of help us with this maintenance of our place? And so Ashley didn't want anything normal. She didn't want commercial beef cows. She said, Well, let's do something different, something that most people don't have around here. So we chose the Texas Longhorn and we bought three bred cows. And uh once those bred cows had their babies, that's when Ashley fell in love with it. And she's kind of taken over from here, and she she just absolutely loves it and and runs wide open with it.

SPEAKER_04 3:08

What's your favorite part, Ashley? Gosh, now I have a helper. I have a gate guy now. He's four. Um our son Watson. But no, I enjoy just, you know, he and I'll go out in the mornings and check on everybody. We'll walk out there. He likes to let them sniff him and pet on them. So um that's probably the most enjoyable for me right now is sharing it with him.

SPEAKER_01 3:38

And do you all also run horses or is it just the longhorns then?

SPEAKER_04 3:43

No, I still have horses, I still show, and um, Watson likes to do lead line right now, so we stay busy with the cows and the horses.

SPEAKER_01 3:54

So, did the longhorns accomplish what you were hoping and get the land cleared down to a point where it's more manageable and everything? Or did you find it helped out having to have a lot more?

SPEAKER_00 4:04

We've actually um they take care of the grass a lot better than I thought they would, and now we end up they eat more grass than we have, so we have to feed hay. But that's okay, it's part of it, and we we love it.

SPEAKER_01 4:15

So you got a few longhorns on your place. Did you come up with your your ranch name and your brand before or after the longhorns arrived?

SPEAKER_00 4:25

I guess it was after the longhorns arrived, you know. I originally wanted to take over my grandfather's brand, which was Toler Farms. It was a T and a F combined. But Ashley and I, after talking about it, looking at it, it didn't really represent what we wanted to be with the Longhorns. Um, so we started drawing a few brands here and there, and ended up with the one that we have. It was on a napkin, and we just thought it was it was what we wanted to do. So we went with it and we made a few hats. Everybody loved the brand, so that's kind of where it has come from and where it's it's here to stay. Now it it's a good change. I I liked the traditions of my grandfather's farm, potentially bringing that in, but it's a good change because it's it's a new direction for us.

SPEAKER_01 5:16

Are there any traditions he had that you did keep that you find yourself utilizing?

SPEAKER_00 5:21

I think I learned mostly what not to do by the way that he had. He had a very large ranch and he just let the cows go wherever they wanted to go. Um, he was a very hands-off cattle rancher, which was fine. That's the way he liked to do it. Um, we're more hands-on, we enjoy the rotational grazing and getting the most out of the property that we can. So that's been a big difference in the way he ran things versus the way I run things.

SPEAKER_01 5:52

When you say hands-on, what does that look like day to day or week to week?

SPEAKER_00 5:58

Ashley and I and Watson are in the pasture every day. When I leave the office, we go home, we're in the pasture, we're feeding cows, we're taking pictures of babies, and it's just it's just an everyday part of life for us.

SPEAKER_01 6:13

Well, walk me through your herd today. Um, how many head are you running? What are you breeding for? Uh, who are some of your favorites?

SPEAKER_00 6:23

Well, we currently have two separate herds, I would call them. They're all longhorns, but we have our registered herd that we keep at the house. And um, it's about between 50 and 60 total animals there. We have our breeding animals and we have a herd of trophies deers there at the house. Those are all the pets and the ones that we're breeding to show and to take to sales and for replacement heifers. And then we also have a meat herd that's just down the road from the home. They're all still longhorns, but uh we developed a meat business and we have a bunch between 50 and 60 animals there at the meat place. So it gives us a good place to send calls, to send anything with any type of an attitude. It has helped us create a floor for our registered animals. If somebody wants to come offer us very little money for a registered animal, then we know that we can process them for a certain amount of money, and it just helps us with the economics of it. And so it's been good. And we used to buy steers from other breeders to fulfill those meat orders, but we've slowly transitioned into being able to raise our own. So that's been a good transition for us. So we have a little over a hundred head total, and we're continuing to grow. We've probably got 40 to 50 calves that'll be coming this fall. So just recently purchased some more land. So now we're trying to fill it up with cows too.

SPEAKER_01 7:52

So which came first? The the interest and the the need in your area for lean longhorn beef, or your need for um, you know, your coals or your lower end animals?

SPEAKER_00 8:05

Yeah, it was definitely the need for us to get rid of animals. That was probably one of the struggles when we first started was trying to find buyers for the longhorns, especially in the southeast down here. They're just not as popular. They're gaining popularity every day, but um they're not as popular around here, so it's not as many buyers. We ended up our first two years, we had a calf crop between the two years of, I think it was 18 bull calves and two heifers. And so we had to figure out something to do with those animals. And uh, we just kind of stumbled into the meat business and it has really taken off and has helped offset the cost of the registered herd. Uh so it's been a big plus for us to have that meat business.

SPEAKER_01 8:49

So are you direct to consumer or what's your what's your model like for the beef?

SPEAKER_00 8:55

Yep, we're direct to consumer. That's Ashley's gig. I'm gonna let her talk about that.

SPEAKER_04 9:00

Yeah, so when we first started out, I thought we'd kind of be like the grocery store and just let people come in and tell me what they wanted, but um, I quickly figured out that was not the way to go because all anybody wants is steaks, and then you're left with everything else. So now um we do we probably take four to six animals at a time when we go to the processor, and when I get home, I'll just take the meat, divide it up into bundles, what I call a beef bundle, and each one varies a little bit. Um, and I just post the beef bundles on our Facebook page, and they're usually gone within about a week from when I post them.

SPEAKER_01 9:49

Do you feel like you have a lot of repeat customers and folks waiting for you to take another one to the locker and everything?

SPEAKER_04 9:56

Yes. We have a waiting list, um, and we do have a good many repeat customers, but it's all um we don't do, you know, the traditional advertising. It's all word of mouth. Um, and the our repeat customers telling their friends and sharing the beef with friends, and then they'll come see us and give it a try. Um, and most of these people, you know, have eaten Angus beef their whole life. And once they give the Longhorn beef a try, they're sold. You know, they tell me they're like, I'll never go back to Angus beef. This is so much better. So that's pretty cool, I think.

SPEAKER_01 10:41

Did you find yourself initially having to give some like cooking instructions and you know the differences there, or you know, did did folks just kind of figure that part out on their own?

SPEAKER_04 10:51

Yes, I always give a little disclaimer for the first-time buyers. It is different. Um, I just tell them it's like cooking deer meat. Um, it cooks a little bit quicker, but you will kind of figure that out once you once you get started. Um, and they just absolutely love it. We can't keep it.

SPEAKER_01 11:12

Once they overcook their first steak, they learn, right? Right.

SPEAKER_00 11:16

Yeah, we've had several um trial runs with the beef tips and uh hockey pucks for a few times.

SPEAKER_01 11:24

Hopefully you have a few ranch dogs that appreciate them at least.

SPEAKER_03 11:27

Yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_01 11:29

Well, in terms of the registered herd, the the non the non-beef herd, um, do you feel like you're breeding for certain traits or what's kind of the ideal toller longhorn?

SPEAKER_00 11:40

Yeah, we certainly are. We've now that we've been in it for roughly nine years, we're figuring out what we like. You know, Ashley's background in the horse world, she likes big and pretty. Um, so that has definitely got something to do with it, and that's what gravitates her towards the trophy steers. They just get so big and they put so much horn out, and she just loves the prettiness of them and being able to come home. We have a pasture with about, I guess about 10 large trophy steers. Um, and then we also have what we call our junior trophy steer pasture, and we watch them up until they're about 18 months to 24 months, and sometimes they'll graduate to the larger trophies here pasture, and sometimes they'll graduate to the to the beef herd. So, but she really loves the prettiness of that, and as far as our um registered herd, the cattle side of it, the mama side of it, they definitely have to be good producers, they have to be able to earn their keep, good milk production, a solid body confirmation. But again, the the prettiness is important to us. Um, but of course, you can't have pretty without a good, a good solid mama count. So we definitely that's a top consideration that we have to have.

SPEAKER_04 12:57

Well, and also anything at our house, you know, if it doesn't have that um gentle nature, especially with us having a four-year-old, if it shows any kind of aggression or it's not being, you know, on its minding its P's and Q's, it's it's going to the beef herd. Um, I just I can't take that chance with a four-year-old because he's out in the pasture with us. So everything we have is extremely gentle. Um, you may not be able to pet everything we have, but they're all they've all got a very gentle nature about them, or we cull them very quickly. That's Yep.

SPEAKER_00 13:40

No second chance, is it? Oh, long horns.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

I like it. Well, with your with the trophy steers um particularly, because sometimes full-grown steers can be hard to find. Folks don't want to part with them, right? Once they once they have them as yard art and everything. Did you purchase those steers young and and let them grow out at your place, or did you find full, you know, full grown ones to start with? Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 14:06

It's a combination of the two, but we um the majority of them we either raised ourselves or we purchased at weaning. Um we would look for potential bull calves that maybe weren't gonna be bulls, but they had a really nice molecao. We like the twisty horn, so we kind of gravitate towards steers that would potentially have that twisty roll to them. And so that's kind of how that approach has come forth. But um, yeah, we've done very well because you're right, there's not a lot of people who market the big trophy steers. And we've sold several to people around here in the southeast that have wedding venues or just party barn type things, or just um someone who's not really re wanting to get into the breeding side of things, but they do want some cows out front and they want something that's that's pretty, kind of like the way we started. We just wanted something pretty. Um, something pretty to look at.

SPEAKER_01 15:01

Was it hard to be patient and when you're you know when you knew you wanted them, but you know, they were they were weanlings, hard to hard to wait till they're full grown?

SPEAKER_00 15:11

That's the hardest part of this business, I think, is the patience side. Um it takes so long to know what you got on the female side to know if they're gonna be a good looking cow. And also you gotta wait another two, three, four years to know if they're gonna be a good producing cow. And so it's it's a very you gotta have a lot of patience, and with the trophy steers as well, they don't really start looking good until they're four or five years old. Um, you have that goofy, awkward teenager stage is what I call it, um, to where their horns are maybe pointed in the wrong direction or they're real long and gangly. And so that's that junior trophy steer pasture that we kind of I try not to look at them very much because I want to send them all to the meat pasture. But Ashley has the patience and she helps convince me.

SPEAKER_01 16:01

That's a really good way to put it, is the awkward teenage phase. I like that. Yeah. Um, are you is your all is you all's ranch near a major road that you have some traffic stoppers out there and folks stopping by to take pictures and stuff?

SPEAKER_00 16:16

Not really. There's a county road that goes by us. We're on the corner of a major an Alabama highway and a county road, but from the highway side of things, you cannot see into our ranch. We have trees there and we've left them there on purpose. Ashley likes the privacy. She doesn't want just random people coming in. But uh yeah, we are getting more and more known in the area as the Longhorn people, and so there's several people that do come in just to look at them. And so that's fun.

SPEAKER_01 16:45

So you bought those first three, and those first three had calves. Um, at what point did you kind of start to consider or maybe um revise things to have what you call your foundation herd, and and who helped you with that, and you know, who helped you get pointed in the right direction, and what did that look like?

SPEAKER_00 17:04

Yeah, we bought the first three from Terry King um down in the panhandle of Florida. We had some interest there, and we had been talking with Nancy Dunn and and uh Jimmy Jones, those three are kind of the three that started us. They're in our area. And um we went to a Setley event down at Terry's place, and I saw the first cow that we purchased, and I knew immediately that I I wanted that cow. Her name was Little Pistol. Um, but we bought that first cow, and then we got two others in the deal as a package deal to get us started. Um, so those were the first three from Terry King. Then we bought several from Nancy Dunn, and then after kind of seeing what we liked out in the industry, we've sort of tried to make our own stamp on the animals that we have, and and we've sprinkled in some genetics from Pace Cattle Company, uh, from Hoosier Longhorns, from Hubble, from G and G, from Bull Creek, Dreamwood Farms. Um, so I'm sure there's some other ones that we're we're missing, but a lot of those farmers, ranchers have helped us, and that's what we love so much about the Longhorn World. You can ask any of them anything, and they will be happy to tell you where they've messed up or where they've had success. So it's been fun.

SPEAKER_01 18:32

Let's dig into the genetics a little bit more. Um, if someone was to go look at your website, who are maybe two or three that you feel like really um exemplify what you're what you're breeding towards and and you're most proud of, and then you know, tell me a little bit about some of maybe the newer genetics coming in for for future uh generations.

SPEAKER_00 18:52

This is Ashley's world.

SPEAKER_04 18:56

Um, so we're partnered with Who's Your Longhorns on an Eagle Texas son, native Charlie horse. He's absolutely massive. We were up there um just visiting. We're not even thinking of buying a bull. Um and I just happened to see him. He was I think he was still on his mother's side or had just been weaned, but he was, you know, a good bit bigger than everybody else in the pasture with him. And I just asked him, who is that? And you know, didn't think too much more about it. And on the way home, Reed and I both said, you know, we want that bull. He's gonna be awesome. So we called him back and they agreed to um partner with us on him, and he is putting leg up under our calves. Um, that's what we're trying to do, get size on these animals. We like big cows, we want, you know, some size and some body to them. So he's really um helping us do that. Probably the nicest animal we have raised to date. Um, her name is Toler's Peach Pie. We call her Peaches. Yep. An ode to my four-year-old naming everything. Um, but she's, you know, nice, full-bodied, big long legs up under, and she's got a good twist coming on. I think she's coming up on two years old. Um, but I would say she's probably the nicest thing we have raised so far.

SPEAKER_00 20:38

Yeah, she's out of a 50-50 daughter, and then of course Charlie Horse is um out of Native Dream.

SPEAKER_04 20:45

And Eagle Texas.

SPEAKER_00 20:46

Eagle Texas, Native Dreams being over a hundred inches, and then Native Dreams' mother was Native Beauty, who's over a hundred inches. So um, there's plenty of horn there. Charlie himself is four years old, and he's in the low 90s. I believe he's 92, 93, somewhere in that range right now. But just so he does not lack horn, does not lack size. He's just been a very good bull for us. And um here recently we've also partnered on a bull with Face Cattle Company, um, PCC Spirit in the Sky. Um Scott and Megan and Titan have been great. They are just great to work with. Titan is so smart with these um genetics, and it's just been a blessing to be able to learn from them. Um, but they have said to us that PCC Spirit in the Sky might be one of the best bulls that they've raised. Um, so we're very excited. He's just uh he's not even two yet, but he's on some of our heifers right now at the house and really excited about him. He's a gruelia-colored bull, and he's a Midas touch, is that correct? Yeah, might as touch so and so. Excited about what he has to offer for our younger animals.

SPEAKER_01 21:55

Are you so when we're recording this, you all are probably in the start or middle of cavity?

SPEAKER_00 22:00

season maybe is that right we just finished up calving yep yeah who who are you most excited about is there one or two that you're just when they hit the ground you're like I can't wait to see them grow up she likes all the little bull calves because she's so ready to castrate them and make them trophies to you so she loves every one of those um there is a special little uh dark colored hei I'd say she's a Parker Brown hei that's uh out of Charlie Horse and out of a um dark night daughter that we have from Pace Cattle Company.

SPEAKER_01 22:32

She's calling her name is Dark Diamond so she's gonna be a special cow for us I think how do you think that your background in horses and horse genetics maybe let you kind of figure your herd out a little faster than folks who are new to cattle or new to longhorns gosh um probably the I guess the biggest thing I've noticed the main thing is just um confirmation like I can you know automatically I just know what I like and I know what I want I can just walk out there look and I'll pick what I want very easily very quickly um and I think that had you know a lot to do with growing up with horses um you know the good confirmation goes a long way you have the eye for it which you can't always teach right you can ask Reed we'll walk out in the pasture and he can pick what I'm gonna go for immediately they all look like big fat quarter horses but they're pretty so does that mean you all agree on those choices for the most part yeah we never have the same favorites though do you ever find yourself at sales or you know uh pr fraturities or whatnot wanting to take home uh oh home different ones and have to compromise or no yeah I would say so but I think she always wins those compromises as it should be right that's right so you mentioned earlier when we were talking about your son um that you all are getting in a little bit to showing did you mean are you halter breaking? Are you doing futurities? Tell me a little bit about that.

SPEAKER_00 25:13

We're just doing the futurities as if he shows interest in the haltered animals we definitely will. We've taken some of the trophy steers out to the world show so we've been exposed to that side of it as well but for the main part right now what we're doing is futurities with the heifers and the bulls and then we'll take a few trophy steers with us to the world show. So if he shows interest and wants to be in that haltered world we certainly will jump into that too.

SPEAKER_01 25:39

What do you think of the futurities? What's your favorite part? How are things going for you?

SPEAKER_00 25:45

You know I think our favorite part is just going and doing and just having fun with the people that are there. We're both competitive people but we've both decided that the futurities for us really should be more of a marketing aspect instead of the competitive side because when we both get really competitive things get out of hand if we we don't like losing so if we go in knowing that it's more of a marketing deal and it's more of a getting your heifer ready for if you ever were to enter her into a sale then she's been town she's seen the site she's heard the auctioneer she's heard the gates banging in the back and so I think it's more of a for us it's a enjoy the time with the people let your cows be exposed to different things and show off the animals that you are breeding. So we really enjoyed that side of things.

SPEAKER_01 26:41

Well as we're sitting there during the fraturities watching different folks animals go through the ring who do you feel like stands out to you as someone whose program or heifers you really admire?

SPEAKER_00 26:52

Gosh there's so many of them That's kind of what we've over the past few years we've just we've really liked what a lot of people are doing the complete total package cow has really taken off and a lot of people are breeding for that so that's why we have so many different sets of genetics from the different breeders around the country I don't know if there's any one that stands out but yeah it's been a lot that we've we've grabbed from what do you feel like has been your biggest challenge in building your breeding program and how did you or are you working through it? I think our biggest challenge up front was overcoming the ability to sell animals when we first started um but that's where the meat program came in. We were kind of forced into that world and that has really like I said before has helped us create um the floor for our animals and helped us keep a strong value for our mama cows because we know if we can't get a certain amount for them then we'll just either move them to the meat herd to produce more babies for us or process them for ourselves. So I think that was the biggest challenge in the beginning but it was really a good learning experience for us.

SPEAKER_01 28:10

Something that you didn't know about raising registered Texas longhorns that you've learned in the last seven years?

SPEAKER_00 28:18

I would say their gentle disposition.

SPEAKER_04 28:20

Yeah and patience.

SPEAKER_00 28:22

Patience the patience with us uh growing up in that commercial cattle world those cows that my grandfather had and my father had were just nuts uh um and that was really what steered me away from cows they got worked once a year other than that they didn't get handled very much so um they didn't like you they didn't want you around and so I was always nervous about longhorns because they had weapons on top of their heads but uh the first very first bull we ever saw was in Nancy Dunn's pasture it was 5050 and um his disposition was just amazing we walked right up to him he didn't even get up he just kind of was like looking at you okay there's some some people in the pasture and that would not have happened in the pastures that I grew up in.

SPEAKER_01 29:09

So I think that was one of the biggest things that's been eye-opening is how gentle and patient they are so you all um are obviously fortunate to be surrounded by Nancy Dunn, Tammy and Terry King uh you know folks Jimmy Jones folks that you've mentioned um so Alabama obviously has some deep longhorn roots uh the surrounding area as well um and overall has deep cattle root roots but you know it's not known as the epicenter of the the longhorn breed so tell me a little bit about you know what what do your friends say what are your you know what's the scene like there in central Alabama um are there other new up and coming breeders like I know you said you've you're seeing more and more but speak to that a little bit yeah I would say so I would say most of our friends look at it as a novelty um they like the idea they maybe don't understand how the economics works because they're used to taking cows to the sale bar and getting these high prices um that are going um but it's a different and I try to tell them it's a different approach that we have you know instead of they're they're going for volume we're going for quality and um our goal is to hit a home run every once in a while and then our singles that we're hitting are the beef animals where we can process those and keep some steady income coming into the farm with that.

SPEAKER_00 30:36

And then occasionally we might hit a home run and we sell a hundred plus inch trophy steer to somebody or we sell a very nice breeding animal to somebody and we get good money whereas it would take a commercial beef operator you know five to ten animals to reach that same price that a high quality Texas longhorn could bring and are you all responsible for getting some newer breeders in your area started breeders? Probably not we've probably sold more trophy steers than we have actually breeding cows. We're still holding a lot of our breeding cows just because of the program and how we're building and how we're using these genetics in the next couple of years they'll be starting to we'll be starting to move more and more as we're putting our stamp on these young animals that we're bringing up but but yeah for the most part at this moment we've been selling mainly trophy steers and then a few breeding animals here and there.

SPEAKER_01 31:37

So Reed you have an agricultural economics degree from Auburn and a law degree from Birmingham School of Law which is kind of a unique combination do either one of those uh show up in how you run your cattle operation do you think?

SPEAKER_00 31:51

Yeah I think definitely both of them as Ashley has the same economics degree agricultural economics that's how we met um we met in college and and I tried to talk her into going to law school with me but she said she was done with school so that was okay too but yeah we definitely use both of those the agricultural economics shows up on the business side of things you know learning the the do's and don'ts in the economics world dealing with agricultural but then the lawyer inside and I think Ashley probably gets annoyed with this sometimes is it's um the liability side always making sure that we have everything done properly so that we we don't get ourselves into any kind of trouble having a cattle operation because obviously these cattle they can cause damage to property or people if they wanted to and so sometimes by accident sometimes by the cow just being you know not what we want it to be. So I'm always paying attention and that's why the the um general disposition is one of our top traits that we look for probably because of the lawyer in me making sure that we don't get sued by anybody so what does your typical week look like when you're splitting time between your office or the courtroom and the pasture? Yeah so I do a lot of estate planning uh setting up trusts for people uh started off in the bankruptcy side of things and so I've done a lot of financial law is where I've kind of focused my practice on uh in the bankruptcy world I learned where businesses might make mistakes and overleveraging things too much debt not enough assets not enough cash uh and then now that I spend more time focusing on stake planning I have a lot of wealthy clients who who I've been able to gather some ideas from about wealth preservation about transferring assets to the next generation um my typical day is I get to the office fairly early between six and seven o'clock in the morning I'm here at work getting the day going at the office I've got six employees here that work with me and so getting them moving in the right direction then we work hard all day leave here between four and five o'clock Ashley and Watson are typically ready for me in the side by side and then we hop in it and we go out and feed cows and and just enjoy the evening together. So typical day to day is that's what that looks like this is maybe a touchy question.

SPEAKER_01 34:21

We'll have to put some asterisk about you know this isn't root this isn't legal advice or whatnot that you always see a disclaimer but do you within the industry itself whether it be at the events or you know visiting other ranches and stuff does the lawyer and you want to give uh your fellow longhorn breeders like a little bit of advice on one aspect or another?

SPEAKER_00 34:43

Sometimes it does I do want to come up and I have to be careful because I'm only licensed to practice in the state of Alabama. But um definitely talking to people I have people come up and ask questions a lot about different things about the state planning side and about the the farm side and liability side. So yeah it's it's definitely something that I love giving that advice because I've seen being I guess I've been an attorney for 14 years now and um I've seen a lot. I've seen people fail in business. I've seen people succeed in business and so it's been very helpful to us and I love sharing that with people. Anytime they have questions I'm always open to talk.

SPEAKER_01 35:22

Any any little tidbit you can share here that's not uh crossing any lines?

SPEAKER_00 35:28

I don't know. I mean what we do with the cows is we enjoy them it's it's good it's a it's a business for us and it's a way for what I call wealth preservation take money take assets purchase cows those are assets that produce more assets uh in your herd now it does obviously take a lot of time it is a second business for us it's full time but it takes time and it takes effort but it's a good way to I call the cows little savings accounts that's what I call them they're just savings accounts that are walking around in the pasture if we need cash we can either process them or take them to the stockyards or get them sold. So they're just little parts of our overall um business portfolio is what I call it. So it's just a piece to the puzzle horses are the same way? Yep yes maybe a little maybe a little bit bigger savings account walking around yeah the bad thing I tell Ashley about the horses is you can't eat them if they if they make you mad so very true.

SPEAKER_01 36:35

Well let's talk a little bit about your marketing and your website um so you how long do you how how long have you all had your website do you recall?

SPEAKER_00 36:44

We started a website ourselves when we first got into it from the very beginning and then probably two to three years after that is when we merged in with hired hand and that has been a big time saving deal for us because keeping up my own website was just it was so time consuming and updating pedigrees updating pictures and that's the beauty of hired hand that we've seen is the time savings because what y'all have done on the back end is connect everything. And so it we just upload a picture we we link the sire and the dam and then the rest is done by you guys.

SPEAKER_04 37:21

So that's it's been a big help for us jumping into hired hand who's in charge of updating the website both of you or Ashley that would be Miss Ashley what's your favorite part of the back end work that you do like is it is it adding a new calf and seeing the pedigree show up is it medical and measurement do you have a like what's one of your favorite things to do that doesn't make you sigh and think oh I gotta update the website again oh adding the new calves or adding new cows updating pictures um I love doing that kind of stuff read will tell you I'm not very tech savvy so if I can do it anybody can do it but you know it's so handy just if you're wondering about a pedigree on somebody it's just so easy everything is at your fingertips and y'all have done a wonderful job of syncing everything together and making our our lives a lot easier good to hear.

SPEAKER_01 38:26

How do you feel like it ties into your overall marketing are you getting Facebook inquiries and then sharing links with people are you advertising locally for the trophy steers and sending you know folks to the website that way um we do get inquiries a good bit um but the I guess the biggest thing for us is you know when I see people on Facebook or um wherever and they're looking for a certain animal or a certain type of animal I can just send them the link.

SPEAKER_04 39:30

It's just one click it makes everything easy and they can see all the information about that animal that they're wanting what's your favorite hired hand website besides your own and why she's the one that does all the browsing so she just shows me what she likes. I don't know that I have a certain favorite I'm all the time you know going to different ranches websites looking at their animals researching their pedigrees um he likes to joke and say that I'm home all day buying cows on the internet and that's what I do I'll find people that are posting them for sale on Facebook and I'll go research their farm research their ranch their genetics and he'll come home and you know I might say hey I just bought a cow in Texas we got to go pick it up are you also the the bidder of the couple or the buyer of the couple on hired hand live are you the one that kind of drives that uh addiction as well now I'll do the the online bidding but I'll let him do the in person that makes me nervous well it's not it's not any different it's just pushing a button or or raising a hand or giving a nod, right?

SPEAKER_00 40:55

That's right. I guess she's worried about people seeing her in person but they can't see her behind the computer screen.

SPEAKER_01 41:02

There you go yeah do you have a a pet peeve when you are when you do see an animal for sale that you want to go research do you have a pet peeve when you go to a website and whether it can't can't find something you're looking for something's not updated.

SPEAKER_04 41:20

I have to say my pet peeve is the pictures like when they just take a picture and their mouth might be open or their tongue sticking out and that's what they put on the website I'm I'm very funny about my pictures they have to be standing just right you know their back has to be straight their tail has to be down I don't know that's that's one of my things I like a good picture is that something that you all do together like at the end of the day or in the evening do you go take pictures together or is that your job Ashley um he likes it to be my job but it's really hard to get good pictures by yourself. Some of them will pose for you when you're by yourself but at this point they just see me coming and they're like oh it's just you and they don't pay me any bit of attention so I'll make Watson run around and quack like a duck or something just to make them look at me pick their head up um so I do have to get him to help me a good bit grab their attention so I can get get the pose.

SPEAKER_01 42:28

Do you also have to quack like a duck read? Sometimes sometimes the trademark secret for the good photos on your website? That's it well let's do a little bit of rapid fire here if you all are up for it. So usually with couples I'll have you each pick an answer. Does that sound okay? Yep sure all right so morning coffee or evening sunset evening drink on the ranch which one I'm a morning guy. And I'm gonna choose the evening sunset so morning coffee I hope Reed?

SPEAKER_00 43:04

I don't drink coffee but I'm definitely more of a morning person. Seems like in the evenings I'm always trying to run and scramble and get everything completed where she's she's able to kind of wind down do you have a favorite drink in the evening Ashley No We have a four year old we don't get to just sit and enjoy the drink.

SPEAKER_01 43:26

Well I mean it could even be just Dr. Pepper I'm just saying like trying to figure out if Reed doesn't drink coffee what you know what keeps him going huh? Right okay so I feel like I know the answer to this one before I ask it because I can see directly behind you a certain mascot but are we Auburn or Alabama fans?

SPEAKER_04 43:47

So I'm an Alabama fan with an Auburn degree and Ashley is Auburn all the way I'm Auburn all the way I rode on the equestrian team at Auburn we won a national championship so I've got to cheer for Auburn.

SPEAKER_00 44:01

So when it comes to the sports we're definitely divided but that's okay.

SPEAKER_01 44:05

Does it ever get heated or anything any better plays?

SPEAKER_00 44:09

We used to care about it but now we're too busy to care about it so uh do you have a favorite workday song or playlist for the days you're out working the herd I mean I listen to Morgan Wallen radio all the time it's upbeat you know got a good tune to it man I like the old school country I'm kind of I guess more of a Cody Johnson if you're talking about the the newer uh people in the in the music industry.

SPEAKER_02 44:42

Who's your old school go-to guy?

SPEAKER_03 44:45

Like George Drake Tim McGraw um Garth Brooks that the the the 90s folks that I grew up with farm truck or ATV?

SPEAKER_00 44:59

A TV yeah uh one thing you always carry in your pocket at the ranch Ashley laughs at me but I always have a pen because I've always been told you never know when somebody's ready to write you a check. So you always better have a pen.

SPEAKER_04 45:18

Okay. What about you, Ashley? Um, I'm gonna have to say my phone in case somebody wants to pose and I've gotta be ready for it.

SPEAKER_01 45:29

Are you boots or sneakers out in the pasture? Sneakers or flip flops.

SPEAKER_00 45:34

And I'm boots.

SPEAKER_01 45:37

Do you all have to worry about snakes much out there?

SPEAKER_00 45:40

Not too bad.

SPEAKER_01 45:41

Okay. So the flip-flops are okay usually. Yeah. Uh do you have pasture dogs?

SPEAKER_00 45:49

We have dogs that want to be pasture dogs. Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 45:53

But they are not What's one thing you would add to your ranch if money was no object? And it could be an animal. I feel like someone else called me out on this loophole. They're like, could it be an animal?

SPEAKER_00 46:08

I think mine would be an irrigation system. I really would like to have constant water whenever I wanted it so that I didn't have to worry about the weather and the grass. It's kind of difficult. We live in a pecan orchard though so we have a little over 400 pecan trees and and an irrigation system in the pecan trees probably doesn't fly.

SPEAKER_01 46:32

What about you, Ashley? Anything you would want to add to make your life easier?

SPEAKER_04 46:36

Um I would say more land so I can have more trophy stears.

SPEAKER_02 46:45

Instagram or Facebook? Facebook If you could only attend one livestock event every year, which one would you pick?

SPEAKER_00 46:58

I would say we've had fun at the the Estasale each year that we've been so Yeah.

SPEAKER_04 47:06

They put on a good show.

SPEAKER_01 47:07

They've it's fun and it's very family friendly so if you could each only pick one word to describe your legacy as longhorn breeders, what would it be?

SPEAKER_00 47:19

Yeah we talked about this and I think honest I think honest would be the word that we want to be because that's something in my law practice and it's weird to say because lawyers don't typically have that honest um word is what you would think of them. But that's and that's why I don't at these Longhorn events I don't advertise that I'm a lawyer. I don't want people thinking negatively of me because there's a lot of negative stuff about attorneys out there. So um with my law practice I want to be known as an honest attorney someone that does the right thing at the right time and uh I think it's the same thing with our cattle operation we want to be known as honest people who do what they say they're gonna do when they say they're gonna do it and you can trust that it's that it's true.

SPEAKER_04 48:07

And if you know if we sell an animal that happens to you know something happens or it's not as advertised then we will make it right um that's just very very important to me that you're happy with what you get from us and um if you're not we will make it right ten years from now what do you want folks to know about Toler Longhorns?

SPEAKER_00 48:41

What do you hope Toler Longhorns is known for I think ten years from now I think we'd like to be a good solid um breeder located in the southeast that if you want to come for a giant trophy steer or if you want a good solid breeding animal that you know that you can trust that that's what we have that's what we offer anything to add Ashley same same um you know everybody you know knows that Joe does the big steers up in Kansas but you really don't have a source you know here on the east coast or down in the south and so we're trying to um make our mark in the steers you know this region that you can come to us if you want big steers little steers something to grow up with your kids um Santa has stopped by our house several times to pick up some steers to deliver on Christmas morning.

SPEAKER_01 49:52

So it's always fun well tell our listeners where they can find you online and on social and everything.

SPEAKER_00 50:00

Well our website is www.tolerlonghorns dot com we do have that website with hired hand it also links to a website that we have that sells shirts and hats and apparel and also beef um find us on Facebook Toler Longhorns. I think we have an Instagram but we don't ever use it so better just stick with Facebook or the website.

SPEAKER_01 50:26

And if folks are in your part of the country are you open to ranch visitors or do you prefer online visitors?

SPEAKER_00 50:32

Yeah we are open to ranch visitors as long as you call us and let us know you're coming so we're happy to show people around even if you're not interested in buying we love showing the cows off well thank you both so much for joining us on the podcast today.

SPEAKER_01 50:46

Yep thanks for having us thank you for having us