Episode Transcript
[00:00:08] Speaker A: Hey, friends. Welcome back to another edition of Conservation Stories. I'm really excited. Today we have a guest that has come down from Plainview, Leighton Schur. And I have asked him to join us because I have been following he and his family for quite a while on the social medias. They own frontier market down on kind of on the square in Plainview, which is amazing. So we're going to talk all about how you got into that business and alternative markets and all kinds of stuff. So let's go.
[00:00:38] Speaker B: So. So, dad, he got involved in no till pretty early on.
His. He was really big into the milo cotton kind of rotation for a while, and he was in seed crops, and so he really was an early innovator of that, which was.
[00:00:54] Speaker A: Yes. That's amazing.
[00:00:55] Speaker B: I don't know if we're still in it quite as hard a day. It's just years and years of no tilling cows. You really get some compaction layers. You have to use some tillage just to keep our. I don't know if our soil's active, but it's not like a heavy plow. It's just like, have a strip till or something.
[00:01:10] Speaker A: Minimal till.
[00:01:12] Speaker B: And so, anyway, so granddad has probably got a really intriguing story. He grew up and he came from Vernon, came into the happy union, established there.
He learned early on that he was running out of water already, and so he hopped from there and bought the place that actually, we are still on today.
[00:01:32] Speaker A: Hale county.
[00:01:33] Speaker B: It's in Hale county, right east of town by the elevators or the prison. So some people know him, and he was big into peppers and castor beans, and he was eating all kind of weird castor beans. He was a very intriguing guy. He was kind of into everything, you know. Anyway, so, dad, he was big into getting some early into the sprinklers. He's probably one of the first couple people to have some sprinklers in Hale county. And so he's got super intriguing.
[00:01:59] Speaker A: He's pioneering.
[00:02:00] Speaker B: He is. He was pioneer, and that's so exciting. And so, anyway, so back to. I came back from tech, I guess I graduated in 17.
[00:02:09] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:02:10] Speaker B: And I farmed. I still farming same acreage for about seven years now.
About two years ago, three years ago, I really got.
Got to toying with the fact that, you know, this farm is just not generating any cash. You know, you farm for a living, you take out these huge operating notes, pay interest, and a couple guys make money, and you're the one that does it, you know? And so it really got my.
My brain kind of churning. I was like, man, I got to start thinking on how we can just generate some cash. I thought, well, I was really, really interested in hydroponics.
[00:02:50] Speaker A: Okay. Yes.
[00:02:51] Speaker B: And the reason it was that is like you're almost, you're not really God, but you sure control a lot.
[00:02:56] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:02:56] Speaker B: Yeah. You control water more than you do.
[00:02:58] Speaker A: If you stick them out in the ground. Right.
[00:03:00] Speaker B: No doubt. And I was like, man, this would be great for West Texas. You know, you have optimal sunlight. We got great. You can control the water. And there's so many things you click off. So me and dad took off to Denver, Colorado, and we looked at, I wish I can remember, altuve farms, I think is the name of that farm. She's a super great person to deal with. Anyway, we went in turtles during COVID and they had a top greenhouse that was covered in greenhouse on a parking garage. Oh, and they had 8000 make it line. It was quite a few of those upright tires, vertical agnorez, growing lettuce, arugula and some of the specialty crops. And, you know, she was kind of sound off what she was making. I was like, oh, man, you know, we need to do that too.
[00:03:47] Speaker A: And so in Denver.
[00:03:49] Speaker B: In Denver? Yeah, in Denver. You know, like, wow, this is awesome. You know, she's not growing cannabis, which was, which was wild. She's grown vegetables.
[00:03:56] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:03:56] Speaker B: Doing very well.
And so we got home and really got to toying with some numbers. It's like, okay, let's, let's get, let's get honest with ourselves. Like, we probably can't afford a greenhouse, just 300 foot by 200 and maintain it. And plus, I don't know if we have the market for it yet.
[00:04:13] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:14] Speaker B: So we went and visited. Another lady that I think is amazing is Deanne Yates with Gates.
[00:04:19] Speaker A: Oh, I know who.
[00:04:21] Speaker B: Deanne's a phenomenal little farmer.
[00:04:23] Speaker A: Goodness.
[00:04:23] Speaker B: She is an inspiration to me, for sure.
[00:04:25] Speaker A: Absolutely.
[00:04:26] Speaker B: So we went and toured her farm. And Sam, she's part of the TAWC water conservation board. And that's how we kind of got to know her.
[00:04:33] Speaker A: That's part of that.
[00:04:34] Speaker B: And, you know, we turned her deal and she's in the middle of the market and having great success.
[00:04:41] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:04:41] Speaker B: So after that, I was like, okay, we got to be honest. So 2021, we ended up buying two greenhouses or high tunnels. High tunnels is a better way for them, I guess. And then our journey kind of started.
Prior to that, in 2020, I had a, while I was in college, I had a research project on our farm, how to increase our profitability. On our farm, and this was in doctor Ryan Rathman's class. You know, of course, that our ranch was one of them that got studied. And at the end of the. At the end of the presentation was like, okay, what do you do? Do you add, you know, all these different things to the cattle? Do you put a hormone in them? You do this, you do that. And I was like, I just don't have. I'm not big into that. And I came up with, like, how do you make those not necessary bottoming calves, but the calves, you take the cell barn more valuable.
And so with that, I was like, I want to do a direct beef program. I've already kind of established that.
And so, lo and behold, 2019, we kept back some steers and I think we kept three.
[00:05:49] Speaker A: I think 2020 was a great.
[00:05:51] Speaker B: Yeah. You know, just conveniently, unfortunately, 2020 came around. We sold three and. And about six minutes, it was wild. And so, you know, if you could sell three, you could sell twelve, you know, and you can sell twelve, you can sell 20. And, you know, the race was on, so that really got the ball rolling with. And we knew that. We knew we could do it with beef, sure.
But we knew we had to have another component. If you're going to become relevant for make a sustainable business out of this, there gonna be a point in time when that freezer's full.
[00:06:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:25] Speaker B: And no one's gonna come knocking at the door to come buy their beef.
[00:06:28] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:30] Speaker B: And so we knew that that price point, you know, that $1,800 a half or whatever.
[00:06:35] Speaker A: Right.
[00:06:36] Speaker B: Whatever it is, it's a lot of money.
[00:06:37] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:06:38] Speaker B: The consumer just probably is not gonna have that for many years to come. And so that's why the vegetable deal really started firing off. So we bought the building, a huge building. It's like 7000 square foot. And, wow, this is a lot of. A lot of real estate here. And so Glenview has a great.
[00:06:56] Speaker A: They're downtown, their buildings and stuff.
[00:06:58] Speaker B: It's beautiful. So, yes, so ours is the old Baines furniture. Some of your listeners may know where that's at. That's pretty popular furniture store back in the good old days. But anyway, went in and renovated it all and got a couple freezers and refrigerator and then storefront out front. So anyway, the market was really, really on. And Plainview was a pretty unknown market.
I'm gonna practice with that. It was very, very unknown. Just not necessarily the amount of money in Plainview, but the amount available, discretionary income. I was really questioning.
[00:07:37] Speaker A: Right.
[00:07:38] Speaker B: And I was already kind of I was, in a roundabout way, anti farmers market just because of the restriction of one day sale.
[00:07:48] Speaker A: Gotcha.
[00:07:49] Speaker B: You know, if you have a bad day, you have all this product, and what do you do with it?
[00:07:52] Speaker A: What do you do with it?
[00:07:54] Speaker B: So that's what I really want to do. This storefront.
And so with that being said, we started. If I got the doors open in October of last year, and we've had unprecedented demand. It's been wild.
[00:08:08] Speaker A: I love that.
[00:08:10] Speaker B: So now back to the vegetables. I hate to bounce around too much just for the. For the listener, but I would like to go back to the vegetables.
And West Texas vegetables is a very intriguing thing.
[00:08:23] Speaker A: Yeah. Because I know where you guys. It's a little more common where y'all are, because you have some folks that are growing, like, a lot of tomatoes.
[00:08:31] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:08:31] Speaker A: And then you have, like, a huge amount of cucumbers.
[00:08:34] Speaker B: Yes. Yeah. Best page right in the background.
[00:08:36] Speaker A: Right, right. And I know, like, I'm from Brownfield, so sometimes we would see peppers.
[00:08:40] Speaker B: Yep.
[00:08:41] Speaker A: You know, so. But in watermelons, pumpkins, those kind of things. But not the amount of kind of. Not like what you're doing, not the diversity that you've got.
[00:08:50] Speaker B: So what we did was we split off. It's kind of funny. We split off 25 acres that was an old, basically a dry land cotton farm that was been shut off and done for a long time. It's right beside where I live. We just hadn't used it. It's on a hillside. Pretty unproductive ground. And it's like, well, what do we do with this weird corner that's done nothing. And so we built the tunnels on it and we put some drip irrigation on it. Now we're up to nearly 40. I think I count last time was like 45 different crops just growing on that. 45.
[00:09:23] Speaker A: 45 different crops. Okay, wait, let's hear them. I gotta have one. What's the most unusual? So, what's something I would never expect?
[00:09:32] Speaker B: This past year, we started growing celery.
That's been a great. A great.
[00:09:36] Speaker A: Oh, my goodness. I had no. I mean, I had no idea. 45 different crops.
[00:09:42] Speaker B: The one that really put us on the map, that without a doubt, put us on the map, was the lettuce that's been. There's a couple things in the market garden that excel so fast, especially for the taste and quality you can achieve. And lettuce is one of them. And carrots would be a close second. And then you start getting to navigating some of these weird oddball stuff that people hadn't really done.
[00:10:08] Speaker A: Because truly it does taste better.
[00:10:11] Speaker B: Oh, no doubt. I mean, and so it's where I'm having a lot of question marks is, okay, do I have too many different crops?
But the caveat to that is who else is going to grow them, right?
And having the storefront, you know, I'm trying to encourage more producers to come in, but I mean, they have plenty of demand selling their crop. Why don't come to us, sell wholesale? You know, I mean, that's a great, great point to make. I'm not gonna blame any producers. Gonna give up wholesale to go sell retail and sell out. Yeah. So that's been. That's been a question of mine. On our longevity plan.
[00:10:55] Speaker A: So do you ever outside of your market, are you selling to any other local stores?
[00:11:04] Speaker B: We have.
We started selling a canyon farmers market. We'll sell that every Saturday. It's from June to September. And we'll sell Woolforth about five months of the year.
I really kind of foresee that you can get burnout so fast that there is.
[00:11:23] Speaker A: It's a lot of work.
[00:11:24] Speaker B: There's a time to let everybody take a break. And I came that route. Yes, I can grow year round.
We harvest all but one week of the year. It's crazy what we can do. But are you gonna have any staff left?
[00:11:40] Speaker A: Right.
[00:11:41] Speaker B: You know, are you gonna have. Are you gonna have yourself sandy lift? I don't know.
[00:11:46] Speaker A: Right. It's a lot of. It's a lot of labor.
[00:11:49] Speaker B: You know, on the, on the. There's my family still farm. We're still cotton. Milo Wheatley. We have all the, all the crops too. And so this vegetable deal is awesome. But I mean, the 17 acres of straight vegetable farming is so intense.
I built everything on a 30 inch bed with ten inch centers. What that is, is the old 40 inch planters.
That way you have ten inch walkways and 30 inches of plant bede. And some of those rows we harvested and planted eight times through the year.
And so, yeah, you start doing the math on that. You know, you're legitimately, basically, once a month, you're turning that bed, like, for example, like a radish.
It's only 22 days. And lettuce is less than. Less than, you know, you can get away with 40 days. I mean, it's just incredible how fast you can go. So in the wintertime, you slide into a bunch of cooking greens that you can go through the winter with.
[00:12:53] Speaker A: You know, I think it really is interesting because I agree with you about Plainview. Because when I saw that you were opening, I was like, yeah. Hmm. I wonder if there's enough. Not even just discretionary money, but is the culture. Right. Boy, that tells me so much about how.
How much people that I would not have even thought would be thinking and caring about where my food comes from. They are.
[00:13:22] Speaker B: It's huge.
I really have to commend the hispanic culture, of all people. They really do care about fresh food.
[00:13:28] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:13:29] Speaker B: And you could tell the difference, you know, fresh cilantro versus store bought cilantro. It's insane. And they crave that, and I do, too, quite frankly. I love cilantro. People taste like soap. But for that, I guess I'm blessed. I don't have to have to have that, you know? But, you know, they're. They really crave fresh. The caveat to all this is a still price.
[00:13:51] Speaker A: Right.
[00:13:52] Speaker B: And, yes, I still cut out all the middlemen, but I still pay top dollar to the employees, and I still.
The expenses you have at a store is.
[00:14:05] Speaker A: It's still there.
[00:14:05] Speaker B: It's still there. And. And so that is. That's the only restriction, I think, for us to truly grow is we got to get our prosthetics to her.
[00:14:15] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:14:15] Speaker B: And I recognize that. I mean, I understand that.
[00:14:17] Speaker A: Right. Yeah, that is. That's, you know, like any new market, that really is. That is a struggle, you know? And the reason it's cheaper at the store is because it's scale.
[00:14:29] Speaker B: It's.
[00:14:29] Speaker A: It's industrial. And, you know, I was in California recently and saw a lot of those crops. I mean, so much diversity, you know, and still a lot of labor intensive crops, you know?
[00:14:44] Speaker B: And, you know, it's not necessarily the harvest of the crop. It's the minute after you harvest that crop, that's where the work starts. And, you know, when you cut wheat, you cut the grain, you put it in the truck, haul it to the elevator. Three guys can do it. Right, and cut 60 acres in a day. On the vegetable deal, you may only harvest, you know, a bed of lettuce, and it takes you two to 3 hours. Granted, that bed of lettuce can make 16 bed. I mean, we're running right now about $0.60 an ounce on our lettuce, and we start selling stuff by the ounce. It's a whole lot cooler than by the bushel.
[00:15:21] Speaker A: Oh, wow. That's really exciting.
[00:15:23] Speaker B: So, yeah, our beef is probably the secondary thing that I'd love to. Love to dive into.
[00:15:30] Speaker A: Yeah, let's do it.
[00:15:31] Speaker B: The beef side is. Has probably been the most intriguing.
I thought I knew a lot about cattle until I started killing my own beef.
[00:15:41] Speaker A: So are you processing them yourself?
[00:15:43] Speaker B: I do not. No, I. Man, there's better people in this world do a better job than I would.
[00:15:48] Speaker A: I would.
[00:15:48] Speaker B: So, Keter's, until you cuts the majority of ours, okay. We'll slide some down to local cuts. They do. They got an awesome summer sausage, and we sell that one.
So the beef side, you think you know your cattle until you start killing them.
And when that hide comes off and you cut him open, you figure out what he is. And the consumer drives that. And the consumer cares about it. Yes, without a doubt. And more importantly, they don't care about it. They want to know so much because they don't know.
[00:16:23] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:24] Speaker B: And I think. I think the american rancher, we have. We have failed that consumer by driving ourselves so far apart. You know, we've let.
[00:16:34] Speaker A: There is a huge, there's a huge gap.
[00:16:36] Speaker B: There's too many people in between that. That grass and that plate. You know, there's a lot.
I am okay with some of the stuff, like the hormones and stuff, personally, like, I'm not gonna get into it, but.
[00:16:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:50] Speaker B: But the consumer doesn't.
[00:16:52] Speaker A: Right.
[00:16:53] Speaker B: And so as a producer, I'm gonna provide with what they're willing to pay for. And so if they said no hormones, you bet. Says, well, we're going no ionophores, you bet. If you don't want it, that's fine.
[00:17:05] Speaker A: Is that the consumer is your customer.
[00:17:07] Speaker B: That's right. And they drive it. They drive that with the vegetables. You know, we see it every day. Organic.
They're not true. In our area. Right here in this area, they're nothing.
It's not a big factor for them.
[00:17:24] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:26] Speaker B: But they want to know you personally. They want to know your story, and they want to know the job that you're doing. That's what they care about.
[00:17:33] Speaker A: Yes. The story.
[00:17:34] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:17:35] Speaker A: They want the story.
[00:17:36] Speaker B: They want it, and it matters to them.
[00:17:38] Speaker A: And I'm so glad it does.
[00:17:40] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, absolutely. You know, if, you know, when you walk into Sam's club or wherever you go buy that spinach, you don't have a clue where that came from.
[00:17:48] Speaker A: Right.
[00:17:49] Speaker B: And no fault of them. That's just how our production models been made.
I would encourage everybody to go try fresh spinach. You will absolutely like, oh, I hate spinach. Well, have you tried it fresh?
[00:18:01] Speaker A: Wow.
[00:18:02] Speaker B: You know, have you had, you ever had a fresh carrot? Have you ever had a fresh this?
[00:18:06] Speaker A: I know. That's true. I grew carrots. We lived in earth Texas, 5 miles north. Earth.
[00:18:13] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:18:13] Speaker A: And I had wonderful garden. The first year we moved there, it rained where we moved south of brownfield. Hadn't rained 18 months, and so we thought, we've moved to heaven, you know?
[00:18:23] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:18:23] Speaker A: And we grew carrots that year, and, oh, my goodness, they were so tasty.
[00:18:28] Speaker B: Good. Yeah.
[00:18:29] Speaker A: So good.
[00:18:29] Speaker B: The sugar content, just crazy when that stuff has grown. A, right, and b, it's, you know, you pull it and eat it that.
[00:18:38] Speaker A: Way, and it's just fresh. It's just so. Eaten so quickly.
[00:18:41] Speaker B: So I told my wife, I can't wait for the tomatoes to come back, just to have some acidity back in our diet again, you know?
[00:18:47] Speaker A: You know when recently, Lacy and I were in London at a textile meeting, and there's a lot of conversation now about hides, and people are wanting there. In fact, they're banning getting hides from anywhere where there's deforestation. And so it's kind of, you know, shaking up some markets. And one of the interesting things that they said was, you know, we need to find, you know, where can we get hides?
[00:19:19] Speaker B: Yeah.
[00:19:19] Speaker A: Like, we have. We have. You want hides? We have hides.
[00:19:22] Speaker B: Oh, yeah.
[00:19:23] Speaker A: There's so many hides. And they said, but they can't be marked up or scratched up. I'm like, there's nothing for them to touch where we are.
[00:19:29] Speaker B: No, that's true. You know, and all these small packers, small lockers, they really have issues getting rid of their hides. And that's a great market for them to hold it. You know, if they got $20 for them things, it would be.
[00:19:41] Speaker A: It would be. I don't know how you developed that supply chain when all of the tanning. I think we have two or three tanners left in the US, and they're with the Great Lakes, you know? Cause it takes so much water.
[00:19:51] Speaker B: It does. It does. And it's not something I'm super familiar with, but, you know, I'm back to our vegetable conversation. My next explanation is added value.
[00:20:03] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:20:05] Speaker B: And I don't want grandma's favorite hot sauce recipe. That's not what I'm talking about. I'm talking about cutting a watermelon or cutting a cantaloupe or pico de gallo or something fresh. That's a salad. You know, I want to own that side of it. And so we actually put in a kitchen on the backside of our market, so we'll go to added value by the first of the end of the year.
[00:20:25] Speaker A: Oh, that's great.
[00:20:26] Speaker B: Yeah. So it's coming quick.
[00:20:28] Speaker A: That's great. I know. Yesterday, my son was asking, my son is from China, and he loves kimchi. And he was asking, where can I get local kimchi? From a friend, a chinese friend. She said, in your kitchen, you have to make it.
[00:20:42] Speaker B: Yep, yep, exactly. There's some things you just kind of.
[00:20:45] Speaker A: Gotta make when you're gonna do value added on your. On your. In your kitchen, you're gonna be, what's the consumer gonna come in and find then at frontier market, you know, a.
[00:20:57] Speaker B: Pretty big goal of having a salad bar. 100% fresh salad bar. That's. That's my ultimate. I wanted to have a restaurant. My initial thing was having a farm table restaurant.
[00:21:06] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:21:08] Speaker B: There's a really deep rabbit hole that I got in touch with a chef from New York.
[00:21:13] Speaker A: Okay.
[00:21:13] Speaker B: And I love a story is very long. But he basically told me, he said, there's no way you can make it work without, you know, a $100 plate price tag. And I was like, that's pretty high. You know, that's a lot of money. But I agree with him. Our price point, it would just get so out of hand. And so that's why on this added value deal, like, I want a salad bar. I want fresh pico. That's a huge one for us. You know, just simple things like chopped onion, chopped jalapeno. The things that you can just go dump out in your. That's greater and be done right. And that's where I want to head.
[00:21:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:21:48] Speaker B: You know, some of the added value stuff you have in grocery stores now, some of that stuff is kind of end of its life anyway. So they'll cut it up and put it in there. Yes. Right in a jar.
[00:21:59] Speaker A: Are you passionate about conservation and climate smart agriculture? Join the working Lands Climate Corps with the Sandhill Area Research association. We're looking for dedicated individuals to engage in hands on conservation projects and to educate local communities. As a full time member, you'll receive a living allowance, healthcare and childcare coverage is needed. Apply now at Sarah dash conservation.com. gain valuable skills, make a difference, and help build a sustainable future.
That's interesting. I've been traveling with an ag leadership group, the Texas Agriculture Lifetime leadership program.
[00:22:41] Speaker B: That's part of that.
[00:22:42] Speaker A: Oh, it's a. It's a phenomenal program. I've learned so much in these last two years. And we did. We visited places like that that have added, you know, that, you know, chopping and those kind of things. And it's fun to see, you know, places like that are still, you know, hiring, hiring people. They're paying their employees well, there's in particular a place we went to in New York that was distribution. That was really nice to see, you know, employees that have been there for years and years and years, you know, and I do think that's, that that's something that is often misunderstood in the ag world.
[00:23:17] Speaker B: It is.
[00:23:18] Speaker A: And I'm not to say that there haven't been problems in the past, but I do think so often the people that work for us, work with us. Really.
[00:23:26] Speaker B: That's true.
I actually have two of the same employees I started with, and those two, actually two women, they are absolutely phenomenal. And there's a point in time, it's like, so you tell me what I need to do for you, because they are that good. That's great. You know, that workforce, everybody complains about labor until they pay them.
You know, if you pay your, pay your labor well and they get to the benefits.
[00:23:56] Speaker A: You know, I've heard someone say lately, it's not that kids, that people don't want to work, that they're not going to work for you for what you've been paying.
[00:24:02] Speaker B: That's right, that's right. And I have actually heard one of the sons, he came back and this guy is just rock star. Good. And I'm like, man, you can almost have the farm if you want to.
And so there's. It's very intriguing that even him as a 20 year old has came back to the farm and he wants to pursue this. And I really think it boils down to, is there's been such a disconnect to food, and now he's had this fresh food, and now it's like, well, I'm not gonna eat thing else.
[00:24:36] Speaker A: Right.
[00:24:37] Speaker B: You know?
[00:24:37] Speaker A: Yeah. You want other people to experience that.
[00:24:39] Speaker B: You know, there's something about getting back to the farm, putting some dirt between your hands, watching that tomato grow, watching that eggs grow, and then harvesting it and getting to do.
[00:24:48] Speaker A: I do love to see it. There really is a revival of people caring about those things.
[00:24:52] Speaker B: There is. And like I said, back to our old cotton ground, you know, the old cotton ground that was depleted and old, and it's been tough getting that ground even close to being back productive again. We've had some failures, and the number one failure that I'm having is transplant shock.
When you, our soil temps and ours, I guess, a specific heat, I don't really know what it really boils down to, but it's very hard to get our crops.
[00:25:26] Speaker A: Are you buying your seedlings? Are you growing your seedlings?
[00:25:28] Speaker B: No, we grow them once you buy them.
[00:25:31] Speaker A: Yes.
That's when it gets expensive.
[00:25:33] Speaker B: It really expenses and it really takes.
[00:25:37] Speaker A: Is that something that you've considered adding to your catalog of inventory or whatever where you are selling? Yeah, things like that.
[00:25:47] Speaker B: You know, it's very interesting that there's a value to that because Wic not. Sorry, wic Lone star. Snap.
[00:25:54] Speaker A: Oh, snap.
[00:25:54] Speaker B: They actually offer money for you to buy your own seedlings, which is. Which means that state, Texas, values that.
[00:26:01] Speaker A: Interesting.
[00:26:02] Speaker B: I think it's a very. Yeah, you know, thoughtful process.
[00:26:05] Speaker A: Yeah, that's really great to know.
[00:26:07] Speaker B: So, yeah, if you have a Lone star card, you can buy your seedlings from a snap dealer.
[00:26:12] Speaker A: Yeah. That's so interesting.
[00:26:13] Speaker B: So what I do it, I thought about doing a small section, you know.
[00:26:18] Speaker A: Just to see what happens.
[00:26:19] Speaker B: Overgrow it, maybe 30% and sell that off.
[00:26:21] Speaker A: Yeah.
So your. Your cattle, when you, are they solely now marketed through the store, or do you also have an online.
[00:26:31] Speaker B: Yeah, that's great.
So, initially, my granddad started our cattle business back in the seventies, and he actually had some black, baldy cows. He went and bought a limousine bull when the limousines were hot and heavy, and they were ten foot tall, red and apple budded and chicken legged. They were awful cattle.
And now, through the years, with a lot of crossbreeding, now we've kind of got. We're still in the limousine breed. Dad was selling a bunch of limousine bulls. We still are. But like I said, that group of calves is now. It's pretty proud to say it's where everyone's going through the store.
[00:27:08] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:27:09] Speaker B: And really, you'll cull the runts off for sure. But what we have done also is doing a bunch of genomic testing on those cattle. And so Neogen has a very unique deal. Neogen Zoetis. They both have. They're pretty similar. I know they don't want to hear that, but they are, you know, but they have a sale. That's right. They have a set of profiles, you know, that you can get back 16 traits, and we really honed in on about three of them. And one of them is a tenderness trait, and it's actually genetic, you know, even though interesting cab, you know, touts the white fat and the marbling, that's what everybody wants to tout, that they have prime yield grade twos.
[00:27:49] Speaker A: Right.
[00:27:49] Speaker B: But there's a. You know, I've had some. I tell you about this, but I've had some pretty awesome. Some steaks that aren't necessarily that marbled, but they're tender you know, why is this calf so tender? You know, you cut it with a fork. Why is that the case? Well, that tenderness and marbling, I don't people time together, but they're so different. And I think that needs to be explored.
[00:28:10] Speaker A: That is really interesting. And I think I probably, hopefully for some of our listeners, this is all new. I don't think people really understand the science that goes into building over generations, building your, your specific herd and what you're going for, and for you to be able to go, we're going to test this, we're going to see what, you know, you're looking for that specific gene that's creating that tenderness, and you're going to breed that cow to increase that.
[00:28:37] Speaker B: That's something people really need to learn or understand or discover. So, as a storefront, since we own the storefront, I'm thinking I'm breeding cattle for five years down the road today.
You know, the conception and the pasture right now is for, you know, four to the fifth year, and that's, I'm gonna make bringing decisions next year already for the 6th year.
[00:29:04] Speaker A: And people think farmers aren't smart.
[00:29:08] Speaker B: Well, saddle up that always, that always just.
[00:29:12] Speaker A: I just think you have no idea what all goes into this.
[00:29:15] Speaker B: Every old codger, every, every person he's talked to an old codger one time in their life with some cover overalls and, you know, the hay in their mouth or whatever they want to call it, but they need to, you know, there's a lot of wisdom in those.
[00:29:27] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:29:28] Speaker B: And so with this genomic testing, we've really been able. What's been so cool is we've taken out heart disease of our cattle the past two and a half years. We only had one calf. You know, they always talk about the death loss at the end of the road when he's 1450, fixing to get over the kill floor and falls over dead. Well, what happened to him? You know, did he get in? Well, it's heart disease, and so it gives you a risk factor. We can take those cattle out. Another big one is we've taken out all of the cattle that aren't going to gain.
And that's huge for the. That's called a price point. That's huge. So for $15, I can take this test genomically, take these tests, these cattle, and I can see verbatim, if they're going to gain good, they're not going to gain good. You know, I got a history of them that's amazing. And it's, you saw, I think this is the next step for the cattle industry.
People are going to argue with this, but I think it needs to happen to really hone in on this. And I think it can elevate the whole cattle herd very fast.
[00:30:36] Speaker A: You know, I, with tall, we visited a genetics company, and they have bred a cow that is, drinks like 30% less water and produces like 40% less. I can't remember the numbers, but it's.
I mean, it's one of those things that you're like.
That's like a Nobel Prize winning, oh, yeah, no doubt invention. You know what I mean? And he is, you know, taking and donating, you know, to different breeds in different areas and in places like India and stuff, you know, and he's really contributing to a lot of environmental sustainability.
Although I would argue that beef are great for the environment.
[00:31:19] Speaker B: I would, too.
Cattle has always been a staple on our farm, even from the sixties, I guess, 60 something. And they've been such a staple, and they've been such a blessing and a curse.
And the reason I say that is, is you want them on the farm because of that nutrient cycling, but b, they really can terrorize a rotation.
[00:31:51] Speaker A: Are y'all. We were just having this conversation about mob grazing. Are y'all implementing any of those, well, I guess you would call newer.
[00:31:59] Speaker B: Yeah, kind of the regenerative stuff. And I am so intrigued, like, yeah, I want it to work so bad that we've tried.
[00:32:10] Speaker A: So I just was at Mims ranch down in Marfa. So interesting. They're about to release all of this data. That's so interesting.
[00:32:20] Speaker B: So I'm curious what all you have done so personally. Where I'm intrigued is, okay, on those 120 acre circles that you don't have enough water to water the whole thing. So now we cut it back to half. Right. So now you have 60 acres that you have 300 gallons a minute. Now you're down. Okay, now we don't have enough water for that. So let's go down to 40 acres. You know, now we're down to a third. So what do you do with those two thirds of dry land acres and that. And that's. That's gonna be my generation's conquest.
[00:32:52] Speaker A: Well, you'll need to go and listen to the podcast with Jeremy Brown, because we had that exact same discussion.
[00:32:57] Speaker B: Yeah. And so we have played with the COVID crops and stuff, too, and it hadn't fit us yet. I'm not saying we haven't stopped trying. We have not got it right.
[00:33:13] Speaker A: I love, you know, earlier today, we had a roundtable with three different farmers with very different techniques to kind of showcase that. You know, there's never going to be one size fits all.
[00:33:28] Speaker B: No, it's not. And I really think the ag industry in general has to be very careful of that. You know, putting everybody pissed in this box. And if you don't farm this box and you're either docked, ridiculed or outcast.
And I truly believe there's still a place for conventional act. Unfortunately, I still think there's a place for this.
And just like the vegetable deal.
[00:33:54] Speaker A: I agree with you in that because, you know, we are privileged to be able to go into, have access to a frontier market and to go there. But there are huge portions of the world that don't have that privilege.
[00:34:13] Speaker B: No, no doubt.
[00:34:13] Speaker A: And we don't want to take away from them the ability to eat.
[00:34:17] Speaker B: That's right. That's right. You know, and I really, like I said, I still love their genitive movement. I think there's some really cool concepts and I still, there's still some things that I'm like, okay, yeah, I believe in the animal part. I believe in a lot of these parts. I just have not found the combination for the covers to make sense yet.
And personally on our farm, we found more valuable in keeping those residue crop residues and trying to plant something on top of something on top of something else to build that.
That's where we're at right now on the vegetable side. It's been very hard to play with the COVID game for us.
We're already at a water deficit.
And personally, if we dive off the water deficit, I don't know. Like I said, that's one that I really haven't.
[00:35:09] Speaker A: Well, and one of the things that we talked about in the roundtable is just, you know, it can't, it's such a long term, you know, a lot of those regenerative things, you, you might, you, you have to be able to be in a place where can you do something that you're not going to see benefits from for several years, you know, and so, you know, that's why we were talking about, you know, the new climate smart ag that's there. Money that's there for some of those things and the good and the bad of all of that.
[00:35:42] Speaker B: Sure.
[00:35:42] Speaker A: Too. So.
[00:35:44] Speaker B: Yeah, no, that's a great point. And there's a lot of money right now if it's gonna be evolved.
[00:35:48] Speaker A: Oh, there's a lot of money out there for this.
A lot.
[00:35:53] Speaker B: You know, I'm here for it. I think it's great. That people are throwing money at this game to try to find. To find the recipe.
I think there's gonna be a tougher time for the recipe to work until we see know a couple generations down the road.
[00:36:11] Speaker A: Yeah. Yeah. So tell us, tell people that are listening if they want to. Where do they find you? On social media.
[00:36:18] Speaker B: Yeah. So we're always on. On Facebook, Instagram.
We have.
[00:36:24] Speaker A: Are you just frontier market?
[00:36:26] Speaker B: Frontier markets, yeah. Yep. And another one is. Is we have an online store through Barnador. You can find us there. And we are not shipping yet. Okay. Because the shipping is.
[00:36:38] Speaker A: Woo. Shipping meat. Yeah.
[00:36:40] Speaker B: You just take the price and double it.
[00:36:42] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:36:42] Speaker B: So if you want our meat, we'll ship it to you. But you pay for the shipping.
[00:36:47] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:48] Speaker B: And then we also.
You pick up in store and I guess it kind of goes back to our philosophies. I want it so fresh that there is no question on it.
[00:36:57] Speaker A: Yeah.
[00:36:58] Speaker B: That's where we're getting paid at. That's what people know us for. And I. And it's really. It's really catching.
[00:37:05] Speaker A: Well, I'm excited about what you're doing. And 45. 45 different vegetables. I'm just. I'm like, I didn't even know there were 45. I'm not. I admit I kind of have a childish type of palate. It's not very mature.
[00:37:23] Speaker B: You know, you have a split of a fast rotation and a long rotation. And so those fast rotation crops is, you know, ones you may not necessarily eat a lot of. You know, that'd be kind of like swiss chard.
[00:37:38] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:37:38] Speaker B: Collard greens, that kind of stuff. And the long rotation is what everybody. There's a reason why everybody comes in July and August. So they want their black eyed peas and sweet corn and green beans.
[00:37:48] Speaker A: Now you're talking my leg.
[00:37:50] Speaker B: Oh, yeah, that's. That's cream of the crop, so.
[00:37:53] Speaker A: Exactly. Exactly. Well, Layton, thanks again for joining us. And I really appreciate what you're doing and pioneering, making a go of it. And I might have to have a visit with your dad some time.
[00:38:06] Speaker B: Well, that would be fun. I got one more caveat here before we close out. Okay.
As a young producer, if you're truly are kind of stuck, you know, stuck in the ways you think you've. You have an acre somewhere to grow something directly. And I don't know what that direct market is. You know, it could be. I love the wheat deal. Wheat to grind.
[00:38:27] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:38:28] Speaker B: I love the watermelon. The melon market. I love. There's so many things you can just straw. We're going to grow some strawberries, but there's so many markets that there is available to be very, very good at. And if you're a young producer right now, you have an unprecedented demand to sell that crop. You just got to do a little bit more than go with a co op and sell your stuff.
[00:38:49] Speaker A: Yes.
[00:38:50] Speaker B: And I'm telling you, as a young guy, young producer, there's.
[00:38:55] Speaker A: But that could be the, you know, the difference between being able to stay.
[00:38:58] Speaker B: In, and that's true.
[00:38:59] Speaker A: Covering some of those, you know, expenses at home.
[00:39:01] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt, no doubt. And so that I said young guy, young producer, even though, I mean, if you're fixing go out, try it.
[00:39:10] Speaker A: That's great to know. It's great to know that people are really. I mean, it really, truly is bringing in an income.
[00:39:15] Speaker B: Yeah, no doubt.
It's actually.
I would love to see what year two to year or year three to year six looks like.
Right now we're faced with a question, is, how much are we going to grow?
[00:39:32] Speaker A: Right.
That's always.
[00:39:34] Speaker B: And with that being said, is it 20%, is it 40%? Is it 60%? Because the caveat is, is where do I get the cattle at?
Yes, we're buying back some of the genetics out of our bulls from other producers. But do I have enough cattle?
We killed 70 this past year. Do I need 150 this coming year? I don't know.
[00:39:57] Speaker A: I cannot believe you sell three cows in six minutes.
[00:40:00] Speaker B: Yeah, that was back in the good days.
[00:40:03] Speaker A: That's got to set a record.
[00:40:05] Speaker B: Yeah, it was pretty wild.
And back to the direct markets. To you.
The key is being known to being that guy. Yes. Are you that guy for that product?
[00:40:16] Speaker A: Right. Well, you know, I would also suggest there's.
There's a conference called unconventional ag. And there. That's a good place for farmers. You know, there's. There's some conferences out there where farmers are not going to them.
[00:40:30] Speaker B: Right.
[00:40:31] Speaker A: But the, those wholesalers, those folks that are looking for those farmers, they're going there anticipating the farmers and the farmers aren't there. So it's a really good opportunity to get into some of those places.
[00:40:43] Speaker B: I'm telling you. I was, I was saying, don't blame the face, but if you're a young person and you need, you're looking for an option, there's no reason why you should look at something small.
[00:40:53] Speaker A: That's great.
[00:40:54] Speaker B: If you're a watermelon guy, you could even buy eight to 9000 an acre. Pretty easy. Direct sales. There's no reason you couldn't.
[00:41:00] Speaker A: That's amazing. Well, thanks for coming and thanks for sharing all of that with us. I mean, that's a, you know, don't want you to give away your market.
Plenty to go around. Plenty to go around.
[00:41:10] Speaker B: Yes, ma'am.
[00:41:10] Speaker A: Well, thanks for joining us and friends that are listening and watching. Thanks again for being with us. And we will see you next time on another edition of conservation stories.
