SPEAKER_00 0:01

If you're new to our From the Pasture podcast, this is one of our special pre-sale episodes. Our regular shows feature ranch stories, breeder interviews, and cattle knowledge. But today we're focusing specifically on this weekend's Texas Longhorn sale.

Jaymie 0:15

So if you're wanting to learn more about Texas Longhorn cattle markets or you're a registered Texas Longhorn breeder looking to expand your herd, you'll want to tune in to today's episode.

SPEAKER_00 0:27

I'm Jamie. And I'm Molly. We're the owners of Hired Hand Software and Hired Hand Live, and we're excited to bring you a closer look at this upcoming sale. In today's episode, we'll be talking with the sale host about consignments, sale details, and what to watch for in the ring. You can view consignments at hiredhandlive.com and in most cases, visit the consigners' hired hand powered websites to learn more. Now let's jump into this weekend's sale preview.

Jaymie 0:56

I'm here with Gary Lake, one of the sale hosts for the upcoming ITLA sale, which is held in Glenrose, Texas. Gary and I will be talking about the sale details, sponsors, consigners, and of course the consignments. As we talk about the consignments, you can follow along on hiredhandlive.com. And if you want to dig deeper, you can take a look at the consigners' hired hand websites. Well, hey Gary, how's it going today?

SPEAKER_03 1:17

Morning. Hey, things are great. I'm uh camped out here in Ohio for a few days. I came out for the Dickinson Cattle Company Customer Appreciation Day, so that was a lot of fun. Got to talk to them about driving cows through downtown Denver, so that's always a hoot for me. But we are looking forward to the championship show coming up next week. Um starts on the 5th down in uh Glen Rose, Texas. So I'm happy to get to talk about it.

Jaymie 1:49

You want me to introduce myself I do, yes. Before we uh jump into the champ show, tell us about you, Gary Lake.

SPEAKER_03 1:57

Okay, well, my name is Gary Lake. I uh actually came to work for Dickinson Cattle Company in uh Colorado 47 years ago and spent uh quite a f quite a few years as a uh an employee of the DCCI program. But Stan Searle and I are now Silverado Ranch in Colorado, so we still raise Texas Longhorn Cattle. I am a member of the ITLA board and uh and so been in the business for nearly 50 years now. I know you can't tell by looking at it, but that's that's me. That's where I came from. And uh we are really looking forward to the show this year. This will be 36 years for the International Texas Longhorn Association to be putting on a championship show and convention.

Jaymie 2:47

So tell us about um the people who are attending the event. Is there anything that they should know that is not in the catalog or not online that would be beneficial to them? Um, you know, such as like parking, is there concert tickets they need to get, that type of thing?

SPEAKER_03 3:02

There are um there are a couple of concerts, and all that can be acquired when you register at the convention. I mean, you can do it ahead of time. You can call the ITLA office in Glenrose. One of the reasons we have the convention, at least this year in Glenrose, is our headquarters is in Glenrose, Texas. And uh it makes things kind of uh handy down there. Plus, the city of Glenrose has been uh very cordial to the International Texas Longown Association. They let us do a little downtown trail drive last year and and uh give us some special deals on hotels, and uh so we we've got a uh a kind of a sweet deal with the city of Glenrose. They enjoy having us there, and we enjoy being there. And of course, Texas is still the largest state for Texas Longhorn cattle, and that uh that helps as well, especially with the entries and things. But of course, you guys are gonna be handling the heifer sale, which is uh is a donation heifer sale, and it's it's uh it's a little different than some of the consignment sales around the country, but I think you're gonna be pretty excited about some of the bloodlines and some of the quality of heifers we have this year. Uh folks can jump in and get them a start in the business with some really high-quality cattle.

Jaymie 4:24

Well, should we start talking uh let's talk about um Wednesday? Do you know? Or can you help us tell us the schedule of events for Wednesday?

SPEAKER_03 4:32

Okay, well, Wednesday has uh some exciting deals like the Bull Bonanza, so there'll be several of the of the herd sires around the country on display there. There'll be some weights and measurements done. There'll be a horn measuring uh that they call the call of the horns on Wednesday, and then also the loose cattle shows on Wednesday. And and Jamie, as you know, we have a we have a lot of halter and youth cattle shown these days in the in the Longhorn Association, but 50 years ago that wasn't the case. All cattle were shown loose and open. The judges had to be horseback or in the wagon, and it was kind of a piece of the old west. So we still have a kind of a piece of that today with our loose cattle show where cattle are shown in groups and um and completely loose in the arena, and a little bit more of the old west, I guess, pops out for that. So that'll be Wednesday, the loose cattle show, and they will crown the uh international champions for each year in the in the loose division: cows, steers, and young bulls only.

Jaymie 5:46

And then I think there's uh affiliates president meeting that day as well, right? At 3 p.m. for those that want to attend?

SPEAKER_03 5:53

Yes, there will be. Um, and if you're, you know, if you're part of one of the affiliates around the country, or especially if you're an area that does not have an affiliate, one of the things they're going to be talking about quite a bit is how to start your own affiliate organization around the country to to kind of get folks involved. You know, we we have areas that uh have some longhorn breeders and they they simply don't have a local association because someone either hasn't stepped up to start it or they just don't know how to get rolling. And so there'll be some information on that. And our uh our affiliate uh coordinator, Doug Burris, will be there. And Doug is uh up here in Ohio and works with Dickinson Cat Company and puts on uh the uh a couple of major shows up here and runs the affiliate, and boy, he's very, very knowledgeable, and you'll enjoy getting to know Doug if you haven't met him.

Jaymie 6:54

Okay, so that's Wednesday. What about Thursday? What happens on Thursday?

SPEAKER_03 6:58

Okay, on Thursday. Thursday morning starts with our uh uh elite uh heifer fraternity, heifer and bull fraternity. And uh it is part of the the uh National Longhorn Fraternity Race, which you're very familiar with. Uh you and Dan and Joe uh are at about every event, and so it is it is one of the last fraternities in the race as well, Jamie. So um if you're coming down to the end and need a few extra points, uh getting close to the top of winning something big in the NLFR, you can come to the ITLA fraternity here in Glenrose and uh clean up and and take home the the hardware from here and get yourself right to the top of the heap going into the millennium. So it's uh it's gonna be a neat fraternity. I think we've got about 133 entries in the fraternity at this point. So uh there'll be plenty of competition and and plenty of money and prizes to win. That's gonna be Thursday morning. And then Thursday throughout the day, um, we've got some seminars and um some shopping tours for the for the ladies if they want to go into Glen Rose or or farther to do some to do some shopping. And and then that evening will be the Elite Heifer sale. And uh you're gonna be a big part of that for us. We we're very proud of what Hired Hand does for us, Jamie. Um the advent of technology and being able for folks around the country that can't be at these sales and can't travel um to uh to be able to bid online. And and then, of course, we've got uh because it's an international show, we've got trucks and trailers coming from all points of the country. Um if you want to jump in and buy something, there'll always be somebody there that'll be glad to haul one home for you.

Jaymie 8:57

Uh you mentioned the Faturity earlier, which starts right away at 8 a.m. Who are you having for judges this year?

SPEAKER_03 9:04

Um, hmm, uh, that's a great question. Let's see. We have uh Chris Nicks from South Dakota, will be one of our judges. Uh John Helm of Helm Cattle Company down there in Texas. And of course, John has been part of some of the some of the really amazing uh maternal lines in in the breed over the last several years. John will be judging. Um, you know, you're you're asking me questions that I I forgot to study on right before the deal, but um I'm gonna say that uh Lana Hightower is gonna be one of our judges. And of course, Lana has been in this industry and and involved in the Texas longhorn business for years and years and years, raised some great cattle. So we've got a we've got a team of five judges, and and like most fraturities, uh top and bottom score will be thrown out. And uh so you'll get a a real even average, and the the best of the best will come to the top, and and we've got a crew of judges that uh they're not new to the business. Um they're not uh they're not in some other cattle business. They are Texas long-horned people that have raised some great Texas long-horn cattle and know what they're looking for.

Jaymie 10:26

Let's talk more about the sale. Um, if somebody should have questions the day of the sale, who should they go to?

SPEAKER_03 10:33

Well, we can go to a couple different things. The ITLA office will have a line uh that can be called into if they need to. And of course, uh Dan Huntington is going to be uh doing the auctioneering, and as you know, Dan is the best in the industry at this point.

SPEAKER_02 10:51

We uh it seems like they always have uh I have I have a little help coming in on the four-wheeler here.

SPEAKER_03 10:59

Uh Dan not only knows the cattle and knows the people very well, I'm sure there'll be a way that they can get a hold of Dan. And uh I think you'll be online, right? And uh, you know, if they wanna if they want to text you or message you online, you can put them in touch with somebody that that uh can help out.

Jaymie 11:23

Do we get to hear yours truly um as the pedigree reader?

SPEAKER_02 11:28

I will be the pedigree reader.

SPEAKER_03 11:30

And I'm uh you know, I'm I'm not Dale or uh but they'll I'll I'll be sure to tell them something that'll keep them interested in what we're doing.

Jaymie 11:43

There's no doubt that you will come up with something to t to tell them. Okay, so there's gonna be a lot of cattle moving around that weekend. Who is in the back handling all the cattle should somebody need to get a hold of them?

SPEAKER_03 11:58

I'm sure Travis Casey will be in the back working with the crews. Uh Travis has done that for years and years and um both for our sale and for others, and and he's an easy one to get a hold of to find out what's going on in the back, especially if you're concerned about hauling cattle in or cattle out. And uh then there'll there'll be some others as well, but I imagine Travis will be in charge of them as far as the board's concerned.

Jaymie 12:27

And haulers, has anyone stepped up ahead of time and said that they're willing to haul?

SPEAKER_03 12:33

Well, um, first of all, I don't think anybody has necessarily checked in, although uh I I know Wes will be there, and uh and like I say, we have breeders coming from all over the country that are bringing a few cattle to the show or to the sale, and they will uh they'll be anybody will be glad to help you out if they're headed your way. And we can certainly have that ahead of time. Maybe at the at the top of the sale, I'll give you a list of um of some of the folks that are there that are willing to go different directions.

Jaymie 13:09

That'd be great. And then I'll be sure to get it out to everybody that's tuning in online.

SPEAKER_03 13:14

Yeah. Super.

Jaymie 13:16

So who who are some of the ranches that have donated this year? Do you want to talk about them or do we just want to run through the animals that they donated?

SPEAKER_03 13:24

We can we can probably run through the animals and talk about the owners at the same time. Um I think we've got we've got 10 lots in the sale this year. And and by the way, uh in the in the coming years, we're we're probably going to uh change this sale around a little bit starting next year. I've been uh on the committee and and um it's not easy year after year to get people to donate every year just to just to uh pad the pot for different things for youth events and different deals. But I think we'll go probably to a consignment sale next year with a few donated heifers to go along with them and uh make it a little different type of sale. But this year we have 10 hit, and they come from places like Dickinson Cattle Company and and uh Travis Casey's outfit in Colorado, uh the Freeman Jarnigan Ranch, uh Freeman has put in a few, and uh, of course, Diamond B Longhorns, and uh they're young animals. Um, and as as any sale, you know, uh photos have to be in well ahead of time. And so when you've got baby heifers and yearland heifers, it's it's a little hard to imagine what they're gonna look like at sale time when the photos have been taken a few months before. So some of these uh look pretty small and and a little gangly, I guess, in some of the photos, but uh they're very well-bred heifers, and uh by sale time they're gonna look a lot different, and you're gonna be able to take home uh some of the top bloodlines of the breed if you're looking for it.

Jaymie 14:58

Well, let's talk about the very first lot from Rustic Sunset Ranch, R. S Crash the Party.

SPEAKER_03 15:04

Okay. Well, R. S. Crash the Party is uh she's uh a daughter of this RS Wedding Crasher, and he goes back to the Dunn stepping up bull that Nancy Dunn had, of course, and that's back to Cowboy Tough and Dragon Smile and some of the some of the great animals in the breed. So again, you've got a young young heifer here that uh um is out of a bull that that doesn't have a lot of renown yet, but boy, the pedigree is strong, strong on this animal. And she's gonna be uh it's always hard for the first lot in the sale, you know, uh to get kind of folks rolling. But um if you uh if you miss her, you'll miss one of the better animals in the sale.

Jaymie 15:50

Okay, lot two is donated by Diamond B. Longhorns D.B. Rivers Ava. Mm-hmm. Nope, that was wrong. D.B. Riders Ava.

SPEAKER_03 15:59

Yeah, D.B. Rider Riders Ava. And uh she's the daughter of the great spokesman bull. And he's a bull that uh Dickens Cab Company has used for three or four years on their own herds, and uh has really uh put him back on some of the ClearPoint daughters and things. He's a black and white bull and produces a lot of black and white, black and white speckles. This effort goes back twice to top caliber on both sides of her pedigree. And of course, top caliber is a bull that that we owned a portion of and and has been a uh horn producing champion in this industry for uh for several years. You get a little bit overkill in the mix, it adds some of the black and white to you, and the great bull clear point, and goes back to drag iron on the damn side. So again, uh a very uh very uh deep pedigreed heifer and uh a lot of uh a lot of the DCCI bloodline in her. I I think a lot about that when I'm out here at the Customer Appreciation Day, because when you drive through the hills out here and look at some of the amazing cattle these people raise and uh and realize that the that these stacked pedigree bloodlines is what causes these animals to reproduce like themselves or better all the time, then you realize how important pedigree is, and this heifer certainly got it.

Jaymie 17:28

Well, let's move on to lot three from Ty and Lindsay Husky with Savannah Bell uh Savannah Bell Farms. Um it looks like this little heifer is waiting for the new owner to give her a name. But can you tell her more about us?

SPEAKER_03 17:39

Yeah, you know, and I'll be honest with you, I don't know much about this heifer. Um, but uh what I do know is that they uh, of course, Ty and Lindsay, they they love showing halter cattle. I'm sure they I'm sure this is gonna be a very gentle, very easy-to-handle heifer. And if you're looking for something that you can uh take home and start to really fatten up and slick off and and get ready to show them, I know this is gonna be one of those because they uh it's the type of animals they raise. They spend a lot of time with their animals, so I know the disposition is gonna be amazing.

Jaymie 19:01

Well, next up um is lot four from Mr. Joel Dickinson, Royal Pick.

SPEAKER_03 19:07

Mm-hmm. Royal Pick. She's a Royal Safari son. Uh Jay's Royal Safari son by Pick the Mark. And of course, Royal Safari goes back to Rio Grande and the great Lady Monica Bull of the cow of Bob Loomis's. And and uh on the dam side you have Ice Pick, and and honestly, um Ice Pick is a Royal Safari son, too. So you've got Royal Safari sun on both sides, which uh increases your chances of races of black and whites down the road, even though this heifer is not black and white herself. And then on the damn side, too, you've got the Great Point Mark Bull, which is seriously one of the one of the big horn producers and body and confirmation that comes out of this program. So you take a look at this heifer, and I I tell you that these heifers were photographed uh long before they had to be put in the catalog, and and uh she is uh she looks like a champion in the photo, and uh she's gonna even be better in the ring.

SPEAKER_02 20:07

So she'll be she'll be one to look for.

Jaymie 20:15

This one is Gunman's Ride, but I believe that Travis has, did he donate like maybe three animals to the sale?

SPEAKER_03 20:22

Um and uh your your five, six, and seven heifers all come from Travis Casey. Um and if you look at the photos, you'll see that these heifers are a little light looking in the photos. But we've had a pretty dry year in Colorado, and it's been a little tough on cattle this year, but these young heifers are all, again, all uh Dickinson Cattle Company bloodlines out of some of these great um point mark daughters and and uh spokesmen and and some of the other great bulls out here. And all of these are really fancy bred young heifers. Um it's hard sometimes to go into a sale and and get some that have been hauled a long ways and uh photographed a long time before the sale catalog and and realize just how high quality they are. But pedigree will override the the uh uh one-day look of a heifer sometime. And and so all of these will be uh they'll be profitable in your program. And um, and even if they look a little rough with the photos, make sure you get online and take a look. Jamie, you do a good job with your camera, and uh you'll see a lot of difference in these heifers when they hit the ring. And when you look back at this stacked pedigree of great bulls in this industry, you're gonna realize that these are are gonna be producers as well.

Jaymie 21:52

Okay, so let's move on to lot eight from Shadow and Bonnie Seaman. Uh S. L. Royal Ginger Twist is her name.

SPEAKER_03 21:59

Okay. Well, SL Royal Ginger Twist is a young heifer that they have halterbroke and uh ready to show. And and again, um they uh um Shadow and Bonnie uh love to show cattle. They loved, they love youth. Um they're they are are big fans of the youth program, so their cattle are halterbroke and gentle, and uh she'll be fat and slick and ready to take to the first show. And um I uh I like the idea that a a young person can come into this sale and uh buy them something that they could take out and show the next day if they wanted to. And and uh that's something that that Siemens will bring to the to the sale as a Ice gentle heifer that any young person can grab a halter and go show the next time.

Jaymie 22:55

Russell Freeman donated lot nine, and um the name is Trinidad. Can you tell us what you know about this one?

SPEAKER_03 23:02

Okay, so Trinidad is an LTL double splash daughter. And uh if you've never heard of LTL Double Splash, you have heard of HL Double Barrel that uh was raised there in Indiana, and he's of course a son of the great 20-gauge bull. Um, and double barrel was uh uh not only a fraternity champion, but raised a lot of fraternity champions um for those folks. And and uh so uh strong, strong breeding on the top side of this heifer. And of course, Freeman's program has just blossomed over the years. Uh between him and Jamie Jarnigan, they have done a job of raising some really bighorned and and uh quality um bodied cattle, just uh the total package. And as you know, the the 20-gauge sons and daughters and granddaughters uh still break records in sales. Um so if you're looking for a nice young heifer that really has that strong, strong top, and this is this is going to be one of the better ones in the sale. And I know she's number nine, but uh we're we don't keep people hanging around till the end, you know.

Jaymie 24:17

Well, speaking of of the end of the sale, this is our last lot, lot ten from um the McCreary's T Rod Twisted Trigger. Um who's it which is a bull calf.

SPEAKER_03 24:27

Is a bull calf, and that's interesting in an elite heifer sale, isn't it? Um you know, we anything we we love people to donate, and uh and uh whether you're gonna keep him as a bull or whether you're going to make a steer out of him, he's already halter broken. And again, um the youth program has gotten stronger and stronger, and it it's so important because our youth are the next generation of this industry. And we want to keep them excited about it. We want to give them some things that they can do to uh keep them moving forward in the in the business. And and to start out with a little halterbroke bull calf, whether they go ahead and make a steer out of him or whether they keep him as a bull, um, he'll be ready for somebody to to grab the shank and take him out in a pee-wee class or a or a junior class in the youth. And uh so it'll be a lot of fun to be able to buy a little bull calf in this sale. And and of course, if you buy two or three heifers, eventually you're gonna have to have a bull. So we stick one there at the end and maybe that'll work out for your program.

Jaymie 25:36

Well, that wraps up the sale. Um let's move on then, because that's then that's Friday. What about Saturday? What is everything that happens on Saturday?

SPEAKER_03 25:45

Okay, well, Saturday is the youth show. Um we uh got of course you got uh halter show on Friday, the open halter on Friday. And we'll have the youth show on Saturday, and uh the the all of the all of the thing culminates on Saturday that evening with uh with a concert and the membership meeting. Um there'll be a board meeting that uh elects new board members. Some of us will be going off the board, some will be coming on, and and uh there'll be a dinner that night with an awards banquet, and and there's some um pretty exciting awards. The the uh the year-end awards for the cattle are one thing, but we also have some major awards um starting this year uh with the new Daryl Dickinson uh award of excellence, which is gonna be awarded to folks that have done uh an extraordinary job of of uh oh, what would I say, uh not only breeding and raising Texas Longhorn cattle, but also marketing and and being a big part of the Texas Longhorn industry over the years. Um we have the Charles Goodnight Award that is a uh a lifetime achievement award in the longhorn industry that uh the past winners, uh folks like my partner Stan Searle and and different ones um they vote on every year. And uh so it it's uh I'm I'm not gonna tell you who it's gonna be this year, but it is a fellow that's been very prominent from the times of Texas Ranger right on to today in the industry, and he's uh he will be there in person to accept the award, and it's it's gonna be a pretty exciting deal. We haven't haven't seen him for a few years, so looking forward to that. And then there'll be a concert that evening with a young lady that's one of the up-and-comers in the country music and gospel music industry that'll be uh doing uh doing a concert that evening for it. So Saturday's a big day, a lot of great stuff going on.

Jaymie 27:56

Well, and I think I got a little ahead of myself and completely skipped over Friday. I did got a little look a little confused over here. So let's back up to Friday, and we have the international photo contest, which is at two, the Queen Court interviews is at 3 30, and then there is a youth membership meeting at 4 30, followed by the general membership meeting, and then the board of directors meeting. Uh, and then there the youth judging team is at 5 30, followed by the adult showmanship at 6 30. Right.

SPEAKER_03 28:30

Right. And uh the haltered show is the open haltered, but then the uh the youth showmanship is that day as well. In the international photo contest, I want to talk a little bit about it because the International Texas Longhorn Association, one of the uh one of the strong points of our association is we have breeders around the world, uh in Austria and Australia and uh Poland, um uh New Zealand, and uh they uh obviously can't get on a boat and bring cattle to the international show. So what we've done is put together an international photo contest that uh Misha Hammerski, one of our book our directors, um, handles every year, and they send good photos and videos of their cattle in, and then we have a couple of judges that will go through those photos and they will judge the international champion cows and bulls from the photos that are sent in. So uh it's it's kind of a fun deal, and it keeps people around the world involved in it, as well as the ones here in the United States. And then a lot of youth events. Uh the adult showmanship uh on Friday you don't want to miss because uh because the adults aren't as bright as the kids and they're not as spry as the kids. And so it's uh it's it's more um crowd entertainment really than it is showmanship, but it's a lot of fun to watch.

Jaymie 29:57

And then what time do people need to have all of these cows loaded out on Sunday?

SPEAKER_03 30:03

Well, they'd they'd like to have everything loaded out by shortly afternoon on Sunday. Um and that's uh it's you know, we've got some time. The the venue uh there in uh in Glenrose uh works uh very fluidly with us. They they like having us there and and so they take take good care of us. But uh certainly if you can get in in the morning, and uh a lot of people like to load out early because they've got a lot of miles to drive. But by noon or by one o'clock, we like to have uh people being able to start taking down pins and cleaning up. There's a lot of work to do after the show as well, so the sooner the better.

Jaymie 30:44

Perfect. Well, is there anything that we forgot to talk about that you want to make sure we mention?

SPEAKER_03 30:50

I don't, you know, I I think that uh I think we've hit about all of it. I'm just kind of glancing through here, but uh but don't uh don't come for just a day or two. Come to stay. There's some great rates and some hotels around, there's some good Airbnbs around town. And uh historic downtown Glen Rose is a is a neat place, and we're not far from from the cowboy capital of the world, Stephenville, Texas, or you can be in Fort Worth in in about an hour and a half. Uh there's a lot of things to do, uh, not just around town in Glenrose, but right close. And some great restaurants, some great barbecue places. Uh it's just uh it's a nice vacation as well as getting some information on the breed. Uh there'll be some seminars on uh on different aspects of the breed that you won't want to miss. And um you'll get to learn a little bit about the new technology that uh has gone into the uh the new database uh for ITLA and the the new Cattle Drive program. Um there's just uh there's a lot of things going on at convention other than just the show. Um not to mention just getting to sit around at the tables out front and talk to other breeders and um compare your program to theirs, and uh you'll have a good time, I promise you.

Jaymie 32:17

Well, Gary, thank you for joining us. We can't wait to see you and everyone else at the ITLA Champ show. Make sure to check out the consignments ahead of sale date and follow us for more updates. Until next time.

SPEAKER_03 32:29

I love it, Jamie. And listen, we appreciate you guys so much. Love working with you.

Jaymie 32:33

Same. Thanks for having us.

SPEAKER_03 32:35

All righty.