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Knowing that they're coming back
for the next 30 years empowers

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us to make decisions based on
the 30 year performance window.

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You know, one of the things I think is
wrong, horribly wrong in business is

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we make, and I, and I've been in, in
business, you know, in a different way.

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We make decisions based on the
monthly report or the quarterly

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report, or the annual report, and we
don't even think about those things.

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When we, when we're considering
a, an investment or a change or

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a modification, we think of it in
terms of generational, you know, what

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that, what's that gonna do to us?

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00:00:42,630 --> 00:00:47,475
Not, not, what's that gonna do to
our bottom line for June of 2024?

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What's it going to do to the
operation generationally?

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That was Will Harris, and you are
listening to the Regenerative Journey.

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Good day.

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I'm your host, Charlie
Arnett, an eighth generational

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00:01:01,920 --> 00:01:03,330
Australian regenerative farmer.

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00:01:03,750 --> 00:01:07,500
And in this podcast series, I'll be
diving deep and exploring my guests

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00:01:07,500 --> 00:01:11,310
unique perspectives on the world so
you can apply their experience and

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knowledge to cultivate your own transition
to a more regenerative way of life.

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Welcome to The Regenerative Journey
with your host, Charlie Arnet.

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00:01:39,360 --> 00:01:39,690
Good day.

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00:01:39,690 --> 00:01:42,870
Welcome to The Regenerative
Journey, and welcome to my office.

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Check it out.

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00:01:45,300 --> 00:01:48,870
Um, you also might be, I might
be welcoming you to a bit of

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00:01:48,870 --> 00:01:51,450
background noise of two Grahams on
the whipper snipper in the garden.

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Um, so hopefully that won't
interfere with things too much.

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Lovely for the garden, but
not so good for you guys.

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This episode of the Regenerative
Journey is with Will Harris, as,

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um, is mo as, as is most of the
interviews, um, in this series.

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Uh, we recorded it in the
United States in July last year.

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Can you hear those lovely birds?

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Seeing there, it's just so beautiful.

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On this spring day in October, um,
we interviewed, um, a number of

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people in the United States in July.

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Last year Will was about halfway through.

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We drove from, um, we
were in LA for a few days.

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We flew into Memphis.

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We had a few days there.

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Li had a birthday at Gracelands.

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It was awesome for the few days we
were there and we drove down, um,

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to, to um, uh, to Wills at, uh, white
oak pastures there in South Georgia.

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And we stayed there for two or three
nights in one of their cottages

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00:02:44,505 --> 00:02:46,395
in the town of, of Bluffton.

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And I have to say it was one
of the highlights of our trip.

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We, um, very grateful to have, um, met
Will, uh, gave me a couple of hours of his

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time for the interview, um, in his office.

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00:03:00,045 --> 00:03:03,285
And as we, I might have mentioned this
actually in the interview, his office

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00:03:03,285 --> 00:03:09,135
used to be the courthouse in Bluffton
so many years ago, will decided to, as

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he, as he and his family, decided to
essentially revitalize the whole town.

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'cause it was really struggling.

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00:03:15,435 --> 00:03:16,665
He's done that in a number of ways.

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He does reveal a bit of that in
the interview, but where his office

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00:03:19,394 --> 00:03:21,615
is now used to be the courthouse.

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And the crazy thing is over the
road there's this big old tree.

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I dunno what sort of tree it is.

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It's a massive tree.

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It used to be the tree they used
to hang people out of, essentially

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if they'd been found guilty of.

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Whatever in the courthouse over the
road that was quite, quite haunting.

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However, didn't take away from
the quality of the interview and

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the wonderful, wonderful surrounds
and the people of Bluffton.

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We had such a lovely couple of days there.

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They've got amazing, um, cafe shop there.

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We had, we pretty much had three
meals a day there, as does will.

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Um, he's quite the,
he's quite the feature.

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Uh, there wa it was, it was such a
lovely thing to sit down with Will

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in his courtroom, in his office.

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Um, I gave him a bandana
and a packet of gym tams.

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Uh, he took me through
some parts of his life.

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Uh, it was a real honor and
we had such a good time.

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He took us for quite a few farm tours
and I remember the, the morning we

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went to say goodbye and he used to
say I had the worst, um, um, uh, worst

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Southern American accent he'd ever
heard anyway, which is probably right.

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And he said, um, he might, hopefully
excuses me for taking him off.

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But he said, um, when he
said, oh, I've gotta go now

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morning, you know, this morning.

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Will.

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He said, I'm not ready for you to leave.

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It was really sweet.

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Um, and he, and he's the only
man I know who actually puts the

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bee at the end of the word lamb.

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Um, I think he might even say in the
interview, go, we got beef, we got

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pork, we got chicken, and we got lamb.

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00:05:02,580 --> 00:05:05,940
Anyway, um, really miss
Will, he's such a lovely guy.

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00:05:06,000 --> 00:05:11,550
Um, great insight, great pioneer, great
figurehead for the regenerative farming

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industry, direct to consumer industry.

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Um, I hope you really
enjoyed this interview.

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00:05:15,720 --> 00:05:19,020
I, I loved, um, sitting with him for
the, for the couple hours we had.

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Uh, and it was actually when we finished
the interview that we heard that, um,

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Trump had been, um, uh, assassination
attempt had been made on his life.

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Get stuck in the interview.

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It's coming up right now.

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00:05:32,159 --> 00:05:35,790
Don't forget to subscribe, rate,
review, do all those wonderful things.

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00:05:35,790 --> 00:05:39,870
Make sure you do that on your favorite
podcast, um, app so that you know

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00:05:39,870 --> 00:05:43,245
when each, if these episodes comes
out, if you haven't given us a, a,

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00:05:43,250 --> 00:05:47,130
a review or a rating yet, really
appreciate if you were to do that.

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00:05:47,640 --> 00:05:49,980
Preferably a five star
one would be awesome.

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00:05:50,370 --> 00:05:54,420
Um, and there's show notes of
course, as part of this interview.

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00:05:54,480 --> 00:05:56,430
Um, and lots of all, all
the other good stuff.

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Uh, I did do a q and a with Will.

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I'm pretty sure we're just gonna work
out how we're gonna roll those out.

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00:06:01,380 --> 00:06:04,530
Stay tuned for that and many more q
and a's from all our other interviews

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00:06:04,530 --> 00:06:07,350
from not just this interview, but
for ones from previous, previous

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00:06:07,590 --> 00:06:09,210
series, we've got heaps, heaps.

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00:06:09,825 --> 00:06:10,785
Um, of them lined up.

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Enjoy this one.

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00:06:11,895 --> 00:06:13,575
Will Harris, he's an absolute legend.

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00:06:13,875 --> 00:06:17,865
Hope you enjoy this interview with Will
Harris as much as I did interviewing him.

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Welcome to the Regenerative Journey.

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Good.

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We here and welcome to
Bluffton Courthouse.

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Lofton Georgia Courthouse.

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Yeah.

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Which is this, which is your office.

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Mm-hmm.

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I'm just gonna do, I'm gonna, I'm
gonna risk ruining the, oh, how's that

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00:06:39,405 --> 00:06:41,655
Judge's bitch in the middle up there.

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00:06:41,985 --> 00:06:43,635
That's your, and and then the bar.

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00:06:44,025 --> 00:06:45,165
Plaintiff defendant.

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00:06:45,795 --> 00:06:46,245
Yeah.

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00:06:47,415 --> 00:06:52,155
And the interesting thing here is
that you and I mentioned, I just did a

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00:06:52,155 --> 00:06:53,565
little video, now it's outta focus here.

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00:06:53,655 --> 00:07:00,945
But was um, gotta get that
focus back is, yeah, that's it.

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00:07:01,515 --> 00:07:02,175
We'll go back.

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00:07:02,775 --> 00:07:03,495
It'll work it out.

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00:07:03,675 --> 00:07:04,965
Is, um,

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00:07:07,455 --> 00:07:14,355
the very closed loop of law that was
here, because this is the courthouse.

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00:07:14,355 --> 00:07:14,445
Mm-hmm.

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00:07:15,255 --> 00:07:16,935
The jail cells are out the back.

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00:07:17,025 --> 00:07:17,295
Yep.

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00:07:17,715 --> 00:07:21,284
And the gallows the tree's out front,
the living gallows is out the front.

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00:07:21,675 --> 00:07:21,795
Yes.

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00:07:22,185 --> 00:07:23,534
That's lost its focus here.

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00:07:23,534 --> 00:07:24,555
That's a real shit, isn't it?

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00:07:25,635 --> 00:07:26,925
How do we get you back in focus here?

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00:07:26,925 --> 00:07:28,935
Will, that's it.

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We'll,

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00:07:29,115 --> 00:07:30,465
it'll, uh, I'll, I'll work on that.

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If I get distracted.

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Don't you get distracted?

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00:07:32,325 --> 00:07:33,615
But if I'm trying to work that focus out.

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Mm-hmm.

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Um, but

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we very seldom

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hang

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00:07:35,925 --> 00:07:36,615
people anymore.

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Uh, well, I'm glad.

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00:07:39,315 --> 00:07:41,055
Well, I was a bit worried today.

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I might, I might have copped something.

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00:07:43,305 --> 00:07:44,295
I'm just gonna turn my phone off.

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00:07:44,475 --> 00:07:48,885
Well, um, thank you so
much for dinner last night.

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00:07:49,485 --> 00:07:49,815
Oh yeah.

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00:07:49,815 --> 00:07:51,165
Let's, let's turn that thing off.

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00:07:51,315 --> 00:07:51,495
Yeah.

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00:07:52,245 --> 00:07:52,515
Oh, yeah.

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00:07:52,515 --> 00:07:54,945
Um, the machine up there,

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that's better.

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00:07:59,340 --> 00:08:01,065
Yeah, that's gonna make a huge difference.

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00:08:01,485 --> 00:08:04,815
Um, if it gets hot, we can, we'll be okay.

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00:08:04,845 --> 00:08:05,415
Have a break.

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00:08:05,415 --> 00:08:06,105
Turn that on.

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00:08:06,345 --> 00:08:07,215
Do the fan action.

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00:08:07,665 --> 00:08:11,325
Um, we've just spent a few hours
with you and your Jeep with me.

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00:08:11,325 --> 00:08:15,615
Cradling your rifle in
my groin, basically.

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00:08:15,615 --> 00:08:16,005
That's right.

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Which my, which, which had me worried.

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00:08:18,615 --> 00:08:22,035
Um, but we just spent
wonderful couple of hours.

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00:08:22,035 --> 00:08:24,525
You took us around pretty much
all of white oak pastures.

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00:08:25,185 --> 00:08:27,135
Um, so thank you for that.

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I'm so grateful that you've spent
the time with our family to do that.

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00:08:31,005 --> 00:08:34,575
Um, this is, but this is all
about you, not what we did.

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00:08:35,805 --> 00:08:43,575
Will, can you start by telling us, um,
what it is, what it is about being here?

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That, what, what is it about being
a fourth generational farmer that

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has his daughters working with him?

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00:08:53,085 --> 00:08:53,985
Well, let's start.

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Now, now we've both got the croaks.

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Yeah, yeah, we've got
water, we've got lozenges.

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00:08:59,370 --> 00:09:02,250
So if we sort of have to stop
and start and cough a bit.

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00:09:02,670 --> 00:09:02,819
This

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00:09:02,819 --> 00:09:04,260
lozenge is ticking my ass

180
00:09:04,650 --> 00:09:04,949
is it is.

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00:09:06,120 --> 00:09:06,719
Spit it out.

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00:09:06,724 --> 00:09:07,204
It's no good.

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00:09:13,324 --> 00:09:13,564
I don't,

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00:09:16,380 --> 00:09:18,844
we'll least we'll, we'll
eventually be okay.

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00:09:18,844 --> 00:09:21,270
Well, at least we, I, I'm, I
guess I'm not a wilder guy.

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00:09:22,709 --> 00:09:22,859
Oh, no.

187
00:09:23,880 --> 00:09:25,319
But knowing you, you just say yes.

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00:09:25,319 --> 00:09:25,560
You go.

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00:09:25,560 --> 00:09:26,490
Let's give it a shot.

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00:09:26,760 --> 00:09:29,219
Yeah, that's, that's your,
I got, I've got a question.

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00:09:29,219 --> 00:09:30,990
Angelica has got a question
for you about that.

192
00:09:31,319 --> 00:09:33,810
So let's start with you.

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00:09:34,380 --> 00:09:37,410
Fourth generational farmer, fifth
generations in the business.

194
00:09:37,439 --> 00:09:37,530
Mm-hmm.

195
00:09:37,770 --> 00:09:41,430
You made a lovely comment last night
when Jody sort of, you had a chat about

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00:09:41,430 --> 00:09:45,540
something and she walked away and you
had these, this beautiful look on your

197
00:09:45,540 --> 00:09:47,069
face and you just see it outta nowhere.

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00:09:47,130 --> 00:09:50,640
You just said, you know, how lovely
it is to have your daughters there.

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00:09:50,640 --> 00:09:52,439
Can you sort of step into that one a bit?

200
00:09:53,160 --> 00:09:54,150
Yeah, I'd love to start there.

201
00:09:54,275 --> 00:09:54,895
It really is.

202
00:09:55,035 --> 00:10:00,150
So, uh, I had no idea that my
daughters would come back to the farm.

203
00:10:00,900 --> 00:10:06,030
Uh, I, I'm the fourth generation on
the farm and, uh, my dad was a very

204
00:10:06,030 --> 00:10:09,869
dedicated cattleman and I was too.

205
00:10:10,380 --> 00:10:14,130
And I never wanted to do
anything except run the farm,

206
00:10:16,260 --> 00:10:16,829
came back, and the

207
00:10:19,109 --> 00:10:19,619
married a.

208
00:10:24,074 --> 00:10:31,095
And, uh, really good girls and they,
uh, weren't raised the way I was raised.

209
00:10:31,095 --> 00:10:38,745
They were raised to be fair, modern
young girls in the, in the, uh, in

210
00:10:38,745 --> 00:10:45,704
their, and uh, their activities were
dancing lessons and piano lessons

211
00:10:45,704 --> 00:10:50,175
and gymnastics and softball, and
just never worked on the farm.

212
00:10:50,655 --> 00:10:55,574
And I never imagined they would come
back to the farm and they wouldn't

213
00:10:55,574 --> 00:11:01,694
have, uh, while they were young,
I started transitioning the farm

214
00:11:01,694 --> 00:11:08,415
to a very industrial monocultural
cattle operation to what we do today.

215
00:11:08,415 --> 00:11:10,305
And I'm sure we'll be
talking more about that.

216
00:11:11,790 --> 00:11:16,755
And I didn't do, I did not do it to
attract my children to come back.

217
00:11:16,755 --> 00:11:22,635
I did it because I wanted to, but the,
the best part of it, it did bring my

218
00:11:22,635 --> 00:11:28,545
children back and two of the three,
and their spouses came back here and

219
00:11:28,545 --> 00:11:36,855
are actively involved in the management
of the, and I'll be this year.

220
00:11:38,895 --> 00:11:42,464
And it is very pleasing to me
that I have a succession plan.

221
00:11:42,464 --> 00:11:46,635
You know, had they not, I have
friends who have large farms.

222
00:11:47,580 --> 00:11:52,525
And they have children who chose not to
come back and they have a, a problem, you

223
00:11:52,525 --> 00:11:58,980
know, they have a, uh, uh, they need to
terminate their operation or something.

224
00:11:59,880 --> 00:12:01,020
And I don't have to do that.

225
00:12:02,070 --> 00:12:06,180
So how, I mean, it might be a pretty
open-ended question, but like,

226
00:12:07,080 --> 00:12:09,720
what would you have done if they'd
said, oh look Dad, this is lovely,

227
00:12:09,720 --> 00:12:10,680
but we just don't wanna do it.

228
00:12:10,680 --> 00:12:13,470
I mean, what, what, what sense
would that have given you?

229
00:12:13,470 --> 00:12:14,760
I mean, all all that hard work.

230
00:12:14,760 --> 00:12:15,450
Not for nothing.

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00:12:15,480 --> 00:12:18,870
'cause you've obviously worked
and it's, it's been what you

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00:12:18,870 --> 00:12:19,740
wanted to do as you said.

233
00:12:19,740 --> 00:12:21,930
It wasn't something you wanted
them to necessarily come back.

234
00:12:21,930 --> 00:12:23,190
You didn't set it up for them.

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00:12:23,880 --> 00:12:27,210
But I mean, and I guess it's, it, as you
said, it's a, it's, it's something that a

236
00:12:27,210 --> 00:12:29,310
lot of farmers have to face in succession.

237
00:12:29,850 --> 00:12:31,560
It's a really tricky thing.

238
00:12:31,680 --> 00:12:31,860
Yeah.

239
00:12:31,860 --> 00:12:34,020
And luckily I did not
have to deal with that.

240
00:12:35,010 --> 00:12:41,700
I think probably what I would pursue
would be finding some motivated,

241
00:12:41,700 --> 00:12:48,030
talented person that doesn't have the,
uh, doesn't have a farm to come back

242
00:12:48,030 --> 00:12:50,760
to and just see what we could work out.

243
00:12:51,000 --> 00:12:53,340
I'm very fortunate I
didn't have to do that.

244
00:12:54,750 --> 00:12:57,015
Um, and they go, aren't they?

245
00:12:57,780 --> 00:12:58,620
Jenny and Jenny.

246
00:12:58,620 --> 00:12:58,949
Oh yeah.

247
00:12:58,949 --> 00:12:59,040
Oh yeah.

248
00:12:59,310 --> 00:12:59,775
They're great.

249
00:12:59,939 --> 00:13:00,780
They're fantastic.

250
00:13:02,069 --> 00:13:02,189
Yep.

251
00:13:02,189 --> 00:13:02,699
You know, well, what?

252
00:13:02,969 --> 00:13:04,140
No one there coming back.

253
00:13:04,145 --> 00:13:07,469
They, they were, they were born in
80, my three daughters were born in

254
00:13:07,469 --> 00:13:08,969
eighty three, eighty six, eighty nine.

255
00:13:09,300 --> 00:13:12,719
So the 86 and 89 model are
the ones that came back.

256
00:13:13,949 --> 00:13:16,500
And so they're, uh, what that
put them in their thirties.

257
00:13:17,010 --> 00:13:17,370
Yep.

258
00:13:17,819 --> 00:13:23,410
And, um, so they've got 30 years
ahead of working career ahead of them.

259
00:13:23,410 --> 00:13:29,189
And by the way, those two daughters have
five babies who could potentially be the

260
00:13:29,189 --> 00:13:31,230
sixth generation on the farm potentially.

261
00:13:31,349 --> 00:13:31,829
We'll see.

262
00:13:33,240 --> 00:13:37,650
But what, knowing that they're
coming back for the next 30 years

263
00:13:39,180 --> 00:13:45,270
empowers us to make decisions based
on the 30 year performance window.

264
00:13:45,449 --> 00:13:50,130
You know, one of the things I think
is wrong, horribly wrong in business

265
00:13:51,359 --> 00:13:56,189
is we make, and I, and I've been
in, in business in a different way.

266
00:13:56,699 --> 00:14:00,630
We make decisions based on the
monthly report or the quarterly

267
00:14:00,630 --> 00:14:02,790
report, or the annual report.

268
00:14:03,689 --> 00:14:08,069
And we don't even think about those things
when we, when we're considering a, an

269
00:14:08,069 --> 00:14:13,589
investment or a change or modification,
we think of it in terms of generational.

270
00:14:13,709 --> 00:14:15,839
You know, what, what's
that gonna do to us?

271
00:14:15,839 --> 00:14:20,819
Not, not, what's that gonna do to
our bottom line for June of 2024?

272
00:14:21,719 --> 00:14:24,449
What's it gonna do to the
operation generationally?

273
00:14:25,590 --> 00:14:28,260
But that's what, but that's just a really
smart way to do business, isn't it?

274
00:14:28,890 --> 00:14:34,560
Well, I think, I think that's
the way that a perpetual business

275
00:14:34,560 --> 00:14:36,600
like a farm is supposed to be run.

276
00:14:37,380 --> 00:14:43,170
You know, we, uh, we talked about
this earlier, but there are not

277
00:14:43,350 --> 00:14:46,320
very many non depreciating assets.

278
00:14:46,740 --> 00:14:51,870
Precious, precious gs,
precious metals, maybe art

279
00:14:56,580 --> 00:14:58,860
depreciating assets invest.

280
00:15:01,980 --> 00:15:02,310
They're,

281
00:15:05,100 --> 00:15:09,240
and of the non depreciating
assets that I know of, the only

282
00:15:09,240 --> 00:15:12,660
one that yields a return is land.

283
00:15:12,990 --> 00:15:19,440
And it yields a very, very small return,
very small percentage, but it does.

284
00:15:19,800 --> 00:15:27,360
And, uh, and, and planning an operation
to, uh, keep a family together and

285
00:15:27,360 --> 00:15:33,900
to grow a farm, much of which is
the investment, is the land is a

286
00:15:33,900 --> 00:15:39,180
different kind of rodeo than running
a retail operation or manufacturing

287
00:15:39,180 --> 00:15:41,100
operation or a construction operation.

288
00:15:42,930 --> 00:15:45,180
I mean, that's, nature doesn't
work month to month, is it?

289
00:15:45,510 --> 00:15:46,410
That's exactly right.

290
00:15:46,470 --> 00:15:47,070
Perpetual.

291
00:15:47,670 --> 00:15:47,970
It's just

292
00:15:47,970 --> 00:15:49,080
on, and you are a cycles man.

293
00:15:49,785 --> 00:15:54,495
That's, that's how I think, is that how
Jenny talk talks and you mentioned it

294
00:15:54,495 --> 00:15:55,785
today, like you don't, you're not linear.

295
00:15:56,925 --> 00:15:57,315
Oh, yeah.

296
00:15:57,315 --> 00:16:00,130
You, you work, you know, the, the, yeah,

297
00:16:00,130 --> 00:16:03,585
we, we, we, I, we, I think
very you a very cyclical way.

298
00:16:03,585 --> 00:16:08,955
It's very difficult for me to
have a linear conversation.

299
00:16:09,030 --> 00:16:13,425
I, I, I'm, I'm, I get off on other
tangents and I, you know, there's been

300
00:16:13,425 --> 00:16:14,895
several things I've started with you.

301
00:16:14,895 --> 00:16:17,475
I didn't finish it because
I got off on something else.

302
00:16:17,475 --> 00:16:26,640
And that's, uh, you know, that that's
what works well for a farmer and some

303
00:16:26,640 --> 00:16:29,085
other, and some other professions.

304
00:16:29,385 --> 00:16:35,415
You know, if you're gonna be a, uh,
an engineer or an accountant or,

305
00:16:35,415 --> 00:16:42,700
you know, a number that, that linear
focused view is, is very, uh, desirable.

306
00:16:44,415 --> 00:16:48,105
But if you're going be, uh,
uh, working with the cycles of

307
00:16:49,600 --> 00:16:53,565
nature, it's really a, a, a, a
beneficial way to think about that.

308
00:16:54,375 --> 00:16:57,405
Well, I guess it's a great
analogy, a great example.

309
00:16:57,825 --> 00:17:00,945
Accountants, there are not many
variables are there in their business.

310
00:17:00,975 --> 00:17:03,885
They've got clients, they've got
dollars in dollars out, they've

311
00:17:03,885 --> 00:17:07,785
got their procedures In farming,
there's so many variables.

312
00:17:09,224 --> 00:17:10,815
Many of which are out our control.

313
00:17:11,115 --> 00:17:13,035
So if we're too rigid and
we're too prescriptive,

314
00:17:14,234 --> 00:17:15,795
yeah, I think that that's, that's true.

315
00:17:15,800 --> 00:17:16,690
And I think there are other things.

316
00:17:17,010 --> 00:17:21,855
I think that there's just, and I, and I,
and I think that one of the great ills

317
00:17:22,250 --> 00:17:28,185
that, that we, we, this happened post
World War ii, is to try to bring that very

318
00:17:28,575 --> 00:17:33,405
linear, uh, approach to, to agriculture.

319
00:17:34,635 --> 00:17:38,925
You know, the, the, uh, the,
the fact that we operate so, so

320
00:17:39,105 --> 00:17:41,024
predominantly as monocultures.

321
00:17:42,375 --> 00:17:45,495
You know, my great grandfather
and grandfather owned this farm

322
00:17:45,915 --> 00:17:55,035
from 1866 until 1945, operated
it in a very different way.

323
00:17:55,485 --> 00:17:58,815
It was a many different species

324
00:18:02,055 --> 00:18:03,795
marketed direct to the consumer.

325
00:18:03,795 --> 00:18:09,615
So the, my great Grand Farm grandpa
raised as I do cows, hogs, sheep,

326
00:18:09,915 --> 00:18:12,375
goats, poultry, big garden, whatnot.

327
00:18:13,665 --> 00:18:15,105
They had employees.

328
00:18:15,105 --> 00:18:22,159
And every day, uh, the folk, the family
law is that every day that they and

329
00:18:22,159 --> 00:18:24,465
the employees go up way before day.

330
00:18:24,885 --> 00:18:29,534
And slaughter, some might might've been
a cow, might've been three hogs, might've

331
00:18:29,534 --> 00:18:33,135
been 50 chickens, might've been some
ducks, but they slaughtered something.

332
00:18:35,460 --> 00:18:39,480
Loaded in a mule drawn wagon, an
employee drove it two miles up

333
00:18:39,480 --> 00:18:44,550
the road to this little town of
Bluffton and what they had to sell.

334
00:18:45,210 --> 00:18:50,595
You understand, this is no
refrigeration, no USDA inspection.

335
00:18:52,920 --> 00:18:56,400
It was, uh, you know, sell it or smell it,

336
00:18:58,410 --> 00:18:58,680
you know?

337
00:18:58,680 --> 00:18:58,890
Is

338
00:18:58,890 --> 00:18:59,040
that

339
00:19:00,030 --> 00:19:00,120
right?

340
00:19:00,120 --> 00:19:00,330
That's a

341
00:19:00,330 --> 00:19:00,870
classic.

342
00:19:01,500 --> 00:19:06,690
And my father, my father took over
the farm post World War ii and he

343
00:19:06,750 --> 00:19:11,730
made the industrial changes that all
his neighbors made to industrialize

344
00:19:11,735 --> 00:19:13,770
commoditized, centralized.

345
00:19:16,110 --> 00:19:20,310
And on his watch, it became a
monocultural cattle operation.

346
00:19:21,150 --> 00:19:25,200
And that allowed him to
become an expert cattleman.

347
00:19:26,040 --> 00:19:30,810
And I think he probably, uh, he
was cowboy and I was cowboys,

348
00:19:30,810 --> 00:19:33,210
and we didn't talk about it, but
I think he was proud of that.

349
00:19:34,470 --> 00:19:37,860
The fact that he, he
didn't slaughter animals.

350
00:19:37,860 --> 00:19:39,360
He didn't raise vegetables.

351
00:19:39,360 --> 00:19:40,290
He was a cattleman.

352
00:19:41,160 --> 00:19:45,540
Very, very linear, very
monocultural, and was successful.

353
00:19:45,735 --> 00:19:51,210
Uh, he, uh, accumulated more land
and, and we had no debt do good job.

354
00:19:53,070 --> 00:19:55,080
Uh, growing up.

355
00:19:55,080 --> 00:19:55,110
I.

356
00:20:02,429 --> 00:20:07,500
You know, I wanna be a very monocultural
industrial cattleman expert cattleman.

357
00:20:08,655 --> 00:20:13,919
And that's, and I went to University
of Georgia major in, came back, and,

358
00:20:13,935 --> 00:20:19,590
and, and that's what I did for 20 years
and loved it for most of that time.

359
00:20:20,580 --> 00:20:26,520
But at a point in the mid nineties,
I became increasingly disillusioned

360
00:20:26,520 --> 00:20:30,060
with that production model,
started moving away from it.

361
00:20:30,060 --> 00:20:32,939
And for the last 25 years, I have moved

362
00:20:32,939 --> 00:20:34,500
further and further away from

363
00:20:34,500 --> 00:20:34,590
it.

364
00:20:38,580 --> 00:20:39,179
Um,

365
00:20:40,560 --> 00:20:45,870
getting back to your great-grandfather,
grandfather, father, grandfather, your,

366
00:20:45,870 --> 00:20:47,189
let's start with your great grandfather.

367
00:20:48,570 --> 00:20:50,760
1866. Yeah.

368
00:20:50,820 --> 00:20:51,780
1866. Mm-hmm.

369
00:20:53,250 --> 00:20:57,510
What do you think some of the
challenges were for him at that time?

370
00:20:58,260 --> 00:21:00,210
Every generation's gonna
have a new set of challenges.

371
00:21:00,210 --> 00:21:00,270
Yeah.

372
00:21:00,270 --> 00:21:02,550
What, what do you think his
pioneering challenges were?

373
00:21:02,790 --> 00:21:08,675
You know, we, we, harrises don't do a good
job keeping written records, so I, you

374
00:21:08,675 --> 00:21:14,010
know, most of what I know about, about
my great-grandfather was his family law.

375
00:21:15,990 --> 00:21:22,020
He was a, uh, senior at Emory
University when the north invaded

376
00:21:22,020 --> 00:21:24,629
the south in 1861 Civil War.

377
00:21:25,679 --> 00:21:30,210
And, uh, he and his
classmates quit school.

378
00:21:31,379 --> 00:21:35,399
Joined the army and they thought
they had a, a deal with the southern

379
00:21:35,399 --> 00:21:38,730
army, like a band of brothers
to be kept together as one unit.

380
00:21:40,889 --> 00:21:47,010
And the southern army had about an
80% in literacy rate and one unit of

381
00:21:47,010 --> 00:21:49,590
college boys that could read and write.

382
00:21:50,100 --> 00:21:50,970
So they

383
00:21:53,129 --> 00:21:57,360
broke the, uh, agreement and
made all those guys offices.

384
00:21:58,620 --> 00:22:04,680
So he fought the war as a
20-year-old, uh, captain.

385
00:22:06,780 --> 00:22:07,235
And, uh,

386
00:22:10,139 --> 00:22:15,090
I, he had a farm about, about,
uh, 40 miles north of here.

387
00:22:15,810 --> 00:22:20,070
And I dunno exactly what happened, but
the farm was somehow lost in the wall

388
00:22:22,770 --> 00:22:24,895
as, as a, on the losing side, so to speak.

389
00:22:24,955 --> 00:22:25,470
And he,

390
00:22:26,685 --> 00:22:29,010
well, you know, I don't, I,
I don't know how that worked.

391
00:22:29,010 --> 00:22:30,935
I don't think they land.

392
00:22:31,139 --> 00:22:31,800
I just don't know.

393
00:22:31,805 --> 00:22:35,909
I've heard, I've heard several renditions
of how, but he lost the farm however that

394
00:22:35,909 --> 00:22:36,090
was.

395
00:22:37,435 --> 00:22:38,580
But he was very fortunate.

396
00:22:38,580 --> 00:22:41,850
He had an uncle who was a medical
doctor right here in Bluffton, in

397
00:22:41,850 --> 00:22:46,470
this town who started him oval,
uh, on the land we have now.

398
00:22:47,970 --> 00:22:48,895
And, uh, uh.

399
00:22:50,250 --> 00:22:54,540
Farm that, that our farm, all
his life added to a little

400
00:22:54,540 --> 00:22:55,920
bit, followed by his son.

401
00:22:56,100 --> 00:22:59,610
My grandfather did the
same thing, followed by my

402
00:22:59,610 --> 00:23:01,410
father, me, now my daughter.

403
00:23:02,220 --> 00:23:06,765
Matter of fact, that that
little cam there, the red one?

404
00:23:06,995 --> 00:23:07,725
Yeah, this one.

405
00:23:07,955 --> 00:23:08,245
Yeah.

406
00:23:09,075 --> 00:23:09,645
It's heavy.

407
00:23:10,155 --> 00:23:12,005
It's, so that is, uh,

408
00:23:12,665 --> 00:23:13,765
that's a pistol holster.

409
00:23:15,315 --> 00:23:17,670
This is, uh, coins.

410
00:23:18,210 --> 00:23:18,390
Wow.

411
00:23:18,390 --> 00:23:19,080
That sound heavy.

412
00:23:19,085 --> 00:23:21,660
That's, that's a lead io called Babbitt.

413
00:23:22,800 --> 00:23:22,830
Babbit.

414
00:23:22,830 --> 00:23:23,130
Babbitt.

415
00:23:23,550 --> 00:23:28,800
And my great grandfather who came here,
he had no money, so he made him some

416
00:23:28,800 --> 00:23:32,970
money and, uh, paid his employees with it.

417
00:23:32,970 --> 00:23:38,205
This was, uh, you see that's a
dollar, some of them 50 cents.

418
00:23:38,465 --> 00:23:40,350
And that's a, that's an official dollar.

419
00:23:40,470 --> 00:23:43,590
That was, that was minted by
the, by my great-grandfather.

420
00:23:44,250 --> 00:23:45,270
Oh, this was his currency.

421
00:23:45,360 --> 00:23:46,325
That's his currency, yeah.

422
00:23:46,795 --> 00:23:47,685
Yeah, of course.

423
00:23:47,875 --> 00:23:48,165
Yeah.

424
00:23:49,355 --> 00:23:50,940
Is that right?

425
00:23:50,940 --> 00:23:52,975
And he made about 150 something years old.

426
00:23:53,035 --> 00:23:55,140
So is air worn just by worn out.

427
00:23:55,290 --> 00:23:55,620
So, and

428
00:23:55,620 --> 00:23:57,780
did he have to forge that?

429
00:23:57,840 --> 00:24:00,510
Like did he make the babbit or
you buy it in sheets or something

430
00:24:00,510 --> 00:24:01,740
and then he pressed it, or,

431
00:24:01,800 --> 00:24:02,670
you know what bait is?

432
00:24:03,120 --> 00:24:03,300
No.

433
00:24:03,300 --> 00:24:03,840
So, okay.

434
00:24:03,840 --> 00:24:10,440
So in the days before, ball bearings and
roller bearings, they had babbit bearings.

435
00:24:11,250 --> 00:24:16,320
Like if you had a water wheel,
the shaft of a steel shaft.

436
00:24:17,820 --> 00:24:20,220
You would've a babbit
bearing holding it up.

437
00:24:20,850 --> 00:24:22,140
Uh, and it would be a wear item.

438
00:24:22,230 --> 00:24:25,350
It's soft and it's allowed to wear out.

439
00:24:25,355 --> 00:24:25,475
Yeah.

440
00:24:25,890 --> 00:24:25,950
Yeah.

441
00:24:25,950 --> 00:24:31,890
And then once a week you jacket it up, put
a new, yeah, put a new babbit bearing on.

442
00:24:31,890 --> 00:24:35,460
Ah, take the old one off, melt
it, got a low melting point,

443
00:24:36,390 --> 00:24:37,535
and then pour another one.

444
00:24:37,565 --> 00:24:37,855
Yeah.

445
00:24:37,955 --> 00:24:40,615
So we'd have one for next
Saturday, so that I see.

446
00:24:40,860 --> 00:24:45,630
He was, he and his, they were
familiar with pouring babbit, so

447
00:24:45,630 --> 00:24:47,160
he made his own money with Babbit.

448
00:24:48,060 --> 00:24:48,720
That's fascinating.

449
00:24:49,235 --> 00:24:58,770
And, uh, uh, and then, and my grandfather
continued to use Babbit and, uh, so

450
00:24:58,770 --> 00:25:05,550
post World War ii, after World War ii,
the United States Treasury Department,

451
00:25:06,060 --> 00:25:08,850
the Babb, it's called a Harris dollar.

452
00:25:09,990 --> 00:25:16,140
And the Harris dollar became the
currency for Bluffton people.

453
00:25:16,440 --> 00:25:20,365
So, so people weren't paying taxes because
they were operating off the system.

454
00:25:21,065 --> 00:25:21,645
That's James.

455
00:25:21,825 --> 00:25:26,820
So post World War II and the
Treasury Department sent a man to

456
00:25:26,820 --> 00:25:30,360
Bluffton, an agent to stop that.

457
00:25:30,360 --> 00:25:35,025
And my dad, my, my dad was bigger
than me, taught a louder than me.

458
00:25:36,375 --> 00:25:40,440
And, uh, and he, he didn't wanna say
that anybody made his dad do anything.

459
00:25:40,770 --> 00:25:45,300
So when he'd tell the story, he'd
say, after World War ii, the Treasury

460
00:25:45,300 --> 00:25:50,340
Department sent a man down here to ask
my daddy to quit making his own money.

461
00:25:50,880 --> 00:25:51,810
I'd say, did he

462
00:25:51,810 --> 00:25:52,950
ask him or tell?

463
00:25:53,700 --> 00:25:54,960
He'd say, you go to hell.

464
00:25:58,620 --> 00:25:59,195
So when was that?

465
00:25:59,215 --> 00:26:02,460
In, in, in 1940.

466
00:26:03,000 --> 00:26:03,450
When was that?

467
00:26:03,450 --> 00:26:04,110
When did that happen?

468
00:26:04,290 --> 00:26:07,500
I think post World War iii, 19 45, 6 7.

469
00:26:07,830 --> 00:26:09,000
And it was working still then?

470
00:26:10,230 --> 00:26:11,220
Yeah, they, uh, they operated off

471
00:26:11,520 --> 00:26:17,310
that currency from 18
66, 19 46 or something.

472
00:26:17,430 --> 00:26:18,120
Fascinating.

473
00:26:18,630 --> 00:26:21,660
And why haven't you put
recreated the Harris here?

474
00:26:22,680 --> 00:26:23,675
I don't want that man.

475
00:26:25,295 --> 00:26:27,035
He may, he, he may

476
00:26:27,035 --> 00:26:27,675
still be living in,

477
00:26:30,985 --> 00:26:32,730
he's got enough reasons to come down here.

478
00:26:33,210 --> 00:26:34,275
Another reason to come down here.

479
00:26:34,475 --> 00:26:36,210
I, I don't, I don't need
the treasury department.

480
00:26:36,210 --> 00:26:38,010
I got, I got everybody else on my case.

481
00:26:38,010 --> 00:26:39,155
I don't need the Treasury Department.

482
00:26:39,390 --> 00:26:39,990
That is a classic.

483
00:26:39,990 --> 00:26:40,200
Do.

484
00:26:40,200 --> 00:26:43,440
Is that, was that a common thing
in, in, in the, in that time?

485
00:26:43,440 --> 00:26:46,920
Was this a unique situation that
was its own little regional?

486
00:26:47,190 --> 00:26:49,140
You know, I'm old but I'm not old enough

487
00:26:49,140 --> 00:26:49,890
to recall.

488
00:26:50,160 --> 00:26:55,320
Yeah, I, I'm sure I'm, I'm sure
it was not unique, but I dunno

489
00:26:55,320 --> 00:26:58,230
how, how widespread it was.

490
00:26:58,590 --> 00:26:58,950
That is a

491
00:26:58,950 --> 00:26:59,400
classic.

492
00:26:59,940 --> 00:27:01,980
Um, let's go back.

493
00:27:03,720 --> 00:27:07,260
Because as I'm known to do, and
clearly you are known to do too,

494
00:27:07,620 --> 00:27:10,110
Mr. Will is just go off in tangents.

495
00:27:10,950 --> 00:27:15,000
Then again, I have known you
having listened to, um, your

496
00:27:15,000 --> 00:27:16,110
interview with Joe Rogan.

497
00:27:16,680 --> 00:27:21,090
I love your, because he likes to
go on tangents too, and I love

498
00:27:21,090 --> 00:27:22,440
that how you said I'll get to that.

499
00:27:23,010 --> 00:27:26,490
I want to you, you're very, very
on purpose, which is fantastic.

500
00:27:27,000 --> 00:27:28,740
So you might to pull me in
the line every now and again.

501
00:27:29,250 --> 00:27:31,740
Let's start day one.

502
00:27:32,490 --> 00:27:36,570
Mr. Will, will, will.

503
00:27:36,825 --> 00:27:37,105
I don't.

504
00:27:37,110 --> 00:27:37,560
I don't.

505
00:27:37,620 --> 00:27:37,860
Yeah.

506
00:27:38,160 --> 00:27:39,930
So how about day one?

507
00:27:40,560 --> 00:27:45,300
Will Harris hits the, somewhere
around here we were born when

508
00:27:45,300 --> 00:27:46,075
were, when were you born?

509
00:27:46,285 --> 00:27:46,635
You'd

510
00:27:46,635 --> 00:27:51,960
have to give us I was born
December 22nd, 1954 in a little

511
00:27:52,260 --> 00:27:54,900
hospital with 12 rooms in Blakely.

512
00:27:55,380 --> 00:27:58,320
12 patient rooms in Blakely, Georgia.

513
00:27:59,905 --> 00:28:05,935
And uh, uh, had a, a pretty
normal farm childhood.

514
00:28:06,395 --> 00:28:07,255
You know, honey

515
00:28:07,255 --> 00:28:07,535
child,

516
00:28:08,220 --> 00:28:09,210
I'm an child.

517
00:28:09,210 --> 00:28:10,350
My dad was an child.

518
00:28:11,130 --> 00:28:13,455
And, uh, pretty, uh,

519
00:28:15,570 --> 00:28:18,780
pretty normal rural farm boy.

520
00:28:18,780 --> 00:28:19,620
Childhood.

521
00:28:20,130 --> 00:28:21,720
Uh, great childhood.

522
00:28:22,080 --> 00:28:22,740
I'll say that.

523
00:28:26,355 --> 00:28:27,375
Graduated my school.

524
00:28:27,405 --> 00:28:28,665
Very average student.

525
00:28:29,025 --> 00:28:30,345
Very average student.

526
00:28:30,645 --> 00:28:36,735
You know, I, uh, I could, I could
remember, uh, a few days after my

527
00:28:36,735 --> 00:28:45,075
graduation, I was with my dad at a, a
cattle auction and a, uh, the father of

528
00:28:45,075 --> 00:28:51,710
one of my classmates, who was a girl who
was the valedictorian, uh, was there.

529
00:28:52,570 --> 00:28:55,875
And, uh, he said, oh, well,
will, congratulations.

530
00:28:56,055 --> 00:28:57,195
Graduated from high school.

531
00:28:57,765 --> 00:28:58,335
Yes, sir.

532
00:29:00,495 --> 00:29:01,155
You know, I was real.

533
00:29:01,155 --> 00:29:02,775
He said, I was real proud.

534
00:29:02,775 --> 00:29:04,755
You know, Miriam was a valedictorian.

535
00:29:05,175 --> 00:29:09,885
She made it all the way through 12 years
of school and never made a c My daddy

536
00:29:09,885 --> 00:29:16,275
said, I don't believe you ever never
made a b. My, my daughter made it all

537
00:29:16,275 --> 00:29:19,995
the way through 12 years of school and
never made a, my dad never missed me.

538
00:29:19,995 --> 00:29:22,425
Said, I don't believe you
ever made a b either, did you?

539
00:29:28,995 --> 00:29:29,655
Classic.

540
00:29:29,655 --> 00:29:30,735
But, but you know what?

541
00:29:31,185 --> 00:29:36,780
That, you know, Lila, our daughter who
you, you've met, she's homeschooling.

542
00:29:36,840 --> 00:29:37,260
Mm-hmm.

543
00:29:38,115 --> 00:29:41,715
And we have, one of the reasons
why she is, is, you know,

544
00:29:41,715 --> 00:29:42,885
we've got a bit of a problem

545
00:29:45,020 --> 00:29:46,725
with conventional modern schooling.

546
00:29:47,595 --> 00:29:50,265
You know, we don't think it's
necessarily what they learn at school.

547
00:29:51,480 --> 00:29:57,510
Is gonna, is the best thing for, you know,
life, life lessons and setting them up.

548
00:29:57,510 --> 00:30:00,300
You know, my and I, people
are gonna listen to this and

549
00:30:00,300 --> 00:30:01,290
say, oh, here he goes again.

550
00:30:02,159 --> 00:30:05,280
But my, my favorite saying
is, our job as parents is to

551
00:30:05,280 --> 00:30:06,600
prepare our children to leave us.

552
00:30:09,720 --> 00:30:10,645
And that's what we're trying to do.

553
00:30:10,830 --> 00:30:15,030
You know, when she's le she's 18 and she
leaves home whatever, finishes, school,

554
00:30:15,330 --> 00:30:20,490
whatever that looks like, we want her
to go out in the world and assist and

555
00:30:20,490 --> 00:30:23,310
be resilient and survive and thrive.

556
00:30:24,450 --> 00:30:26,760
And we just don't think that
normal schooling kind of

557
00:30:26,820 --> 00:30:29,970
sets kids up, um, to do that.

558
00:30:30,030 --> 00:30:34,740
So, back to you and your average
student may be average in terms

559
00:30:34,740 --> 00:30:38,274
of their definition, you know?

560
00:30:38,625 --> 00:30:38,915
Yeah.

561
00:30:38,915 --> 00:30:40,395
I changed my mind a lot about that.

562
00:30:40,495 --> 00:30:44,950
You know, I really graduated from
school thinking that, um, you know,

563
00:30:45,060 --> 00:30:47,430
I just wasn't very smart about this.

564
00:30:47,430 --> 00:30:53,129
Smart kids made, you know, and I, and
I didn't, and I, I, I'll say this, I

565
00:30:53,129 --> 00:30:54,600
wasn't particularly bothered by it.

566
00:30:55,139 --> 00:30:56,010
I knew much stuff.

567
00:30:56,010 --> 00:30:57,990
I did good, but I just didn't,

568
00:31:00,990 --> 00:31:02,940
that reservation that I'm not,

569
00:31:05,520 --> 00:31:10,080
and I wasn't in, in kind
of learning environment.

570
00:31:12,254 --> 00:31:20,205
When I went to Georgia, I came to
realize that I had really good, uh, uh,

571
00:31:23,445 --> 00:31:30,795
the ability to retain the things
I was interested in, but I didn't

572
00:31:30,795 --> 00:31:32,865
wanna go very deep into anything.

573
00:31:33,465 --> 00:31:37,275
I would know a little bit about
everything, but I didn't wanna

574
00:31:37,275 --> 00:31:38,535
know too much about any of it.

575
00:31:39,825 --> 00:31:46,485
And, and that's what it takes to make
a c and I, I could, I, I, I didn't

576
00:31:46,485 --> 00:31:51,465
do it, but I bet you I could have
taken a double or triple load of

577
00:31:51,465 --> 00:31:54,735
classes and made a C in all of them.

578
00:31:55,395 --> 00:31:58,395
But those I wa an A was
not in me, you know?

579
00:31:59,025 --> 00:32:00,555
I just, I just wasn't that interested.

580
00:32:01,900 --> 00:32:06,165
And I, when I realized that, I
didn't think it was, uh, it was

581
00:32:06,165 --> 00:32:11,295
interesting, but I didn't think it
was an attribute nor a, a deficiency.

582
00:32:11,295 --> 00:32:12,795
It just, just is.

583
00:32:14,085 --> 00:32:18,915
But now that I have lived for nearly
70 years, I have come to understand

584
00:32:18,920 --> 00:32:24,885
that that is part of that being a
generalist and thinking in a cyclical

585
00:32:24,885 --> 00:32:27,075
mount as opposed to a linear mount.

586
00:32:28,305 --> 00:32:32,625
And I think we do a pretty good
job operating this form of white

587
00:32:32,625 --> 00:32:39,915
oak pastures because that cyclical
thought process works well.

588
00:32:40,155 --> 00:32:49,815
And I've seen a lot of farmers who
were certainly better students than me.

589
00:32:50,655 --> 00:32:57,975
They didn't do so well operationally
because they knew a lot about a little

590
00:32:57,975 --> 00:33:03,075
instead of knowing a little about a lot,
you know, and I, that, that's a problem

591
00:33:03,075 --> 00:33:06,315
that I have with modern education.

592
00:33:06,315 --> 00:33:07,754
I, I went to University of Georgia.

593
00:33:08,024 --> 00:33:11,625
I sent my, all three of my daughters
through four years of college.

594
00:33:11,625 --> 00:33:12,555
They all graduated.

595
00:33:13,725 --> 00:33:16,155
But I, I won't do that
with my grandchildren.

596
00:33:16,905 --> 00:33:21,790
Uh, if, if one, if one or more
of my grandchildren has a, uh,

597
00:33:24,320 --> 00:33:30,825
a career path they wanna follow, doctor,
lawyer, school, teacher, accountant

598
00:33:31,095 --> 00:33:33,975
that needs a college education,
then we, we'll probably do that.

599
00:33:34,995 --> 00:33:38,475
But if they wanna come back here or
they don't know what they wanna do,

600
00:33:38,475 --> 00:33:41,895
they just wanna figure it out, we're
not gonna go to college and figure it

601
00:33:41,895 --> 00:33:46,545
out or not happy is not gonna play for
them to go to college and figure it out.

602
00:33:48,070 --> 00:33:48,290
Um,

603
00:33:50,355 --> 00:33:52,360
you know, the, uh,

604
00:33:55,400 --> 00:33:58,875
the siloed, not linear, siloed knowledge.

605
00:34:01,379 --> 00:34:07,604
Uh, the old expression was, you know,
uh, let more and more about less

606
00:34:07,604 --> 00:34:11,444
and less until, you know, almost
all this, know about almost nothing.

607
00:34:12,344 --> 00:34:17,745
And that's the way that my perception
of, of, of my education in college was.

608
00:34:18,705 --> 00:34:24,855
You know, I took, uh, I took, I had
genetics courses from guys that knew all

609
00:34:24,855 --> 00:34:28,665
there was to know about genetics, but
didn't know anything about soil fertility.

610
00:34:29,745 --> 00:34:34,125
And I took soil fertility from a guy that
knew all that was so about soil fertility,

611
00:34:34,484 --> 00:34:40,094
but didn't know anything about microbial
and so on and so on, and nutrition.

612
00:34:42,105 --> 00:34:44,355
And there's so much wrong with that.

613
00:34:45,674 --> 00:34:51,884
And one of the things that's wrong
with it is it assumes that all the

614
00:34:52,005 --> 00:34:55,094
ecosystems operate the same way.

615
00:34:56,654 --> 00:35:04,275
You know, the, I have great belief
strengthened the belief that the cycles

616
00:35:04,275 --> 00:35:08,415
of nature are what drives what we
do, particularly here on this farm.

617
00:35:08,415 --> 00:35:14,205
But then beyond that, you know, the soil
cycle, the, the water cycle, mineral

618
00:35:14,205 --> 00:35:21,345
cycle, the carbon cycle, the grazing
cycle, and we just own mini, some of

619
00:35:21,345 --> 00:35:22,545
'em we probably don't even recognize.

620
00:35:23,805 --> 00:35:25,125
That's what makes life work.

621
00:35:25,125 --> 00:35:29,384
And that's what general, and when they
op, when those cycles are operating

622
00:35:29,384 --> 00:35:32,355
optimally, it spins off on abundance.

623
00:35:33,555 --> 00:35:35,265
And that abundance is what I produce.

624
00:35:35,265 --> 00:35:39,915
It's what I live on, you know,
all that coal and oil and

625
00:35:39,915 --> 00:35:41,505
natural gas in the ground.

626
00:35:41,865 --> 00:35:43,755
That's the abundance of nature.

627
00:35:44,025 --> 00:35:47,355
When the sockers of nature
were just operating optimally

628
00:35:47,565 --> 00:35:48,720
in the era of the dinosaur.

629
00:35:50,714 --> 00:35:57,285
And today on white oak pastures, the
sockers of nature operate far more

630
00:35:57,285 --> 00:36:00,285
optimally than they did 25 years ago.

631
00:36:00,345 --> 00:36:02,984
Because we've worked on them,
we, we've worked on fixing them.

632
00:36:05,685 --> 00:36:14,565
My dad started in 1945 and I continued
on until 1995, breaking the sock overtly,

633
00:36:14,565 --> 00:36:21,375
intentionally breaking the sock of nature,
forcing a monocultural production of

634
00:36:21,375 --> 00:36:24,194
TIF 85 Bermuda grass graze by cattle.

635
00:36:25,395 --> 00:36:30,464
If you lived on my farm and
you worked Tifton 85 Bermuda

636
00:36:30,464 --> 00:36:33,105
grass or a cow, I'd kill you.

637
00:36:35,200 --> 00:36:39,255
And I was really good at
killing things that weren't

638
00:36:39,975 --> 00:36:42,765
TIF 85 Bermuda Grass Cow side.

639
00:36:44,339 --> 00:36:51,240
Means kill homicide, kill people,
insecticide, kill insect, um,

640
00:36:52,049 --> 00:36:54,779
fungicide kill on and on the sides.

641
00:36:55,830 --> 00:37:01,890
And you know, what I became was an expert
is using the sides to kill things, to

642
00:37:01,890 --> 00:37:10,259
promote the monoculture and the, and the,
the monoculture of, of no monoculture, but

643
00:37:10,259 --> 00:37:15,930
the monoculture that I had of, of grass
and cows weren't producing abundance.

644
00:37:16,529 --> 00:37:20,520
And I was producing a product I
could sell, but I was throwing the

645
00:37:20,520 --> 00:37:23,910
cost off for somebody else to bear.

646
00:37:25,439 --> 00:37:30,120
You know, I'm, uh, so my
farm is on Devil's Branch.

647
00:37:31,169 --> 00:37:39,270
It flows into Spring Creek, it flows into
the Flint River, it flows into Appalachia

648
00:37:39,660 --> 00:37:47,220
Bay, which is Gulf of Mexico, and there's
a, a dead zone in Appalachia Bay is

649
00:37:47,220 --> 00:37:49,350
as big as the state of Massachusetts.

650
00:37:50,549 --> 00:37:56,640
It used to be a thriving oyster
ground, but all the pesticides that

651
00:37:56,640 --> 00:38:01,169
me and my friends and relatives
and neighbors have destroyed that

652
00:38:01,200 --> 00:38:02,609
it's a, it's a dead zone amount.

653
00:38:03,299 --> 00:38:05,520
So that's a cost.

654
00:38:07,085 --> 00:38:12,419
And, and, and me and the other people
that created that cost aren't gonna it.

655
00:38:14,415 --> 00:38:15,975
Everybody's gonna bear that cost.

656
00:38:17,835 --> 00:38:18,945
Nature's bearing that now

657
00:38:18,945 --> 00:38:19,185
too.

658
00:38:19,185 --> 00:38:19,245
Yeah.

659
00:38:20,295 --> 00:38:21,915
Nature is bearing that cost.

660
00:38:21,915 --> 00:38:25,725
I mean, the destruction of the, the
industry that's not there anymore.

661
00:38:25,725 --> 00:38:27,375
Well, don't, don't you worry about nature.

662
00:38:27,735 --> 00:38:31,395
She, she'll, she'll bat last half her way.

663
00:38:31,905 --> 00:38:32,685
But yeah.

664
00:38:32,685 --> 00:38:40,335
You know, I, I worry about the fact that
we're driving so many species, plants

665
00:38:40,335 --> 00:38:42,375
and animals and microbes into extinction.

666
00:38:43,245 --> 00:38:51,255
And I believe that every ecosystem has
plants and animals and microbes that

667
00:38:51,255 --> 00:38:55,815
work in symbiotic relationships with
each other to create the abundance.

668
00:38:57,375 --> 00:39:02,415
And when, when a plant, or I
dunno, a microbe is driven into

669
00:39:02,415 --> 00:39:05,205
extinction, it's gonna change things.

670
00:39:05,745 --> 00:39:11,400
Now nature's powerful and something else
is going to happen to, but it's, it's

671
00:39:11,505 --> 00:39:12,915
gonna be, but it's gonna be different.

672
00:39:13,845 --> 00:39:17,775
We've changed the direction.

673
00:39:19,515 --> 00:39:20,745
So yeah, I worry about these things

674
00:39:21,560 --> 00:39:25,665
and it's often the thing that
jumps in is worse, right?

675
00:39:25,960 --> 00:39:31,995
Like you take a hierarchy of
predatory animals and you take one

676
00:39:31,995 --> 00:39:36,255
out, whether it's a wheat or a plant,
or it's an insect or something.

677
00:39:36,255 --> 00:39:38,025
You remove that from that chain of.

678
00:39:39,240 --> 00:39:40,080
Supply.

679
00:39:40,080 --> 00:39:43,110
I don't think we're gonna, we're
definitely gonna change it.

680
00:39:43,140 --> 00:39:44,430
I doubt that we improve it.

681
00:39:44,700 --> 00:39:45,600
No, no.

682
00:39:45,600 --> 00:39:52,620
You know, you know, nature spent, what,
billions or trillions of years evolving

683
00:39:52,620 --> 00:39:55,380
this system that produces the abundance.

684
00:39:56,040 --> 00:39:59,640
Again, all that coal and oil
and natural gas in the ground.

685
00:40:01,665 --> 00:40:03,900
And I, and I can see what we've done.

686
00:40:05,190 --> 00:40:06,060
I can see what we've done.

687
00:40:06,510 --> 00:40:11,520
Uh, so one of the things that, that
changed me in the, in the mid nineties is,

688
00:40:14,160 --> 00:40:23,100
uh, for the number of reasons I looked at
the soil, that was my land owned by my dad

689
00:40:23,100 --> 00:40:25,170
and my granddaddy and my great granddaddy.

690
00:40:25,920 --> 00:40:29,820
And then I walked down in the
woods, you know, 20 yards away.

691
00:40:29,970 --> 00:40:34,200
You got a handful of, and this
was soil and this is dirt.

692
00:40:35,880 --> 00:40:41,400
This is, this is five plus percent
organic model, just teaming with

693
00:40:41,400 --> 00:40:46,170
plants and animals and microbes, stuff
you can see, stuff you can't see.

694
00:40:46,680 --> 00:40:49,530
And this is just, it's, it's,
it's a dead mineral medium.

695
00:40:49,530 --> 00:40:54,450
This, it's just, I, there's
some life in it, but it's a tiny

696
00:40:54,450 --> 00:40:56,190
fraction of the life this year.

697
00:40:57,000 --> 00:41:02,700
And we did that, me and my dad
primarily with, again, tillage,

698
00:41:03,570 --> 00:41:05,400
chemical fertilizer, pesticides.

699
00:41:07,680 --> 00:41:10,500
The desire to, to
operate as a monoculture.

700
00:41:12,930 --> 00:41:14,100
And tell me about that.

701
00:41:14,129 --> 00:41:14,669
I mean,

702
00:41:17,009 --> 00:41:21,330
because where, from where I sit now and,
and definitely where you sit, you know,

703
00:41:24,089 --> 00:41:27,060
that's how we used to operate
in the conventional sense.

704
00:41:28,529 --> 00:41:31,980
What was the attraction of your father?

705
00:41:32,490 --> 00:41:33,750
So let's take it back to him.

706
00:41:33,779 --> 00:41:37,020
Maybe you can't answer, you
can't speak for him, but you

707
00:41:37,020 --> 00:41:38,520
may have a bit of a sense of it.

708
00:41:40,980 --> 00:41:47,970
What was, what made it attractive to
head down that monoculture, conventional,

709
00:41:49,259 --> 00:41:50,490
whatever, you know, all those words.

710
00:41:50,490 --> 00:41:50,725
Yeah, no,

711
00:41:50,765 --> 00:41:51,565
I, I knew that answer.

712
00:41:51,765 --> 00:41:53,004
I mean, I, I know that story.

713
00:41:53,105 --> 00:41:54,805
It was before I was born,
but I know the story.

714
00:41:54,805 --> 00:41:54,815
Yeah.

715
00:41:55,440 --> 00:41:59,580
So right over there, that peanut
company is right by that window.

716
00:42:00,899 --> 00:42:00,990
Yeah.

717
00:42:00,990 --> 00:42:10,020
There's, uh, uh, they had a, a fish
fry and, uh, sponsored by a sales for

718
00:42:10,020 --> 00:42:15,180
a fertilizer company, invited all the
farmers to come and eat free fish.

719
00:42:15,899 --> 00:42:20,549
And he gave all of them a, had
a couple of 200 pound bags of

720
00:42:20,549 --> 00:42:21,899
ammonium nitrate fertilizer.

721
00:42:22,830 --> 00:42:28,410
He gave all the farmers a, a bag with
five or 10 pounds or whatever in it,

722
00:42:30,720 --> 00:42:34,680
and his request was go
home, put it on your grass.

723
00:42:35,775 --> 00:42:39,525
Wet it, put some water on it,
and leave it for three days

724
00:42:39,525 --> 00:42:40,605
and come back and look at it.

725
00:42:41,355 --> 00:42:44,445
And my dad did that when he got back.

726
00:42:44,535 --> 00:42:50,235
When he put the only nitrate
fertilizer, you, the grass was that

727
00:42:50,235 --> 00:42:51,355
much higher than the rest of it.

728
00:42:51,930 --> 00:42:57,140
And you know, my day shit, I
want it all to look like that.

729
00:42:58,880 --> 00:43:06,075
In 1946 until the mid nineties,
he or I one put nitrogen

730
00:43:06,075 --> 00:43:08,175
fertilizer on every acre we had.

731
00:43:09,465 --> 00:43:15,165
And we could see the benefit,
but we couldn't see the cost.

732
00:43:15,315 --> 00:43:18,885
We couldn't see the oxidation
of the carbon in the soil.

733
00:43:18,885 --> 00:43:22,575
We couldn't see the destruction
of microbes in the soil.

734
00:43:22,575 --> 00:43:25,995
We, you know, there's a lot we couldn't
see, but you can see what's good.

735
00:43:26,295 --> 00:43:27,375
You couldn't see what was bad.

736
00:43:27,495 --> 00:43:28,635
So what, what do you do?

737
00:43:29,955 --> 00:43:36,735
Well, the truth is, chemical nitrogen
fertilizer wasn't invented in 1946.

738
00:43:37,335 --> 00:43:39,495
It was invented in 18, the 18 hundreds.

739
00:43:40,545 --> 00:43:43,725
But it was so expensive
that nobody used it.

740
00:43:45,405 --> 00:43:52,215
But then when the world invested a fortune
in munitions uh, manufacturing for World

741
00:43:52,215 --> 00:43:58,785
War ii and the war was over, all that
infrastructure was standing now, and it

742
00:43:58,785 --> 00:44:01,215
could be converted from munitions to.

743
00:44:02,430 --> 00:44:03,210
Nitrogen fertilizer.

744
00:44:03,450 --> 00:44:08,040
So it became very cheap and that's
when people started using it.

745
00:44:08,100 --> 00:44:10,920
And we're still using it
and it's still doing damage.

746
00:44:11,670 --> 00:44:16,020
And we can talk about, uh, the damage
it does when it gets in the ground.

747
00:44:16,470 --> 00:44:21,150
We can talk about the damage it does
when it gets in lakes and the rivers.

748
00:44:22,260 --> 00:44:24,990
But let's just talk about the d
damage to still white pastures.

749
00:44:25,050 --> 00:44:25,800
We can see that.

750
00:44:25,800 --> 00:44:26,640
I can show it to you.

751
00:44:26,785 --> 00:44:27,205
Mm-hmm.

752
00:44:29,245 --> 00:44:34,140
And that started in Yeah, the second
World War and what was the other one?

753
00:44:34,140 --> 00:44:35,370
Pesticides.

754
00:44:35,880 --> 00:44:36,150
That was, yeah.

755
00:44:36,545 --> 00:44:41,640
I think that, uh, I, I think
that pesticides came about from

756
00:44:41,640 --> 00:44:43,620
the, from the war effort as well.

757
00:44:43,620 --> 00:44:45,480
I think the nerve gas and other things.

758
00:44:46,050 --> 00:44:50,220
I think that the, I know
the use of tractors.

759
00:44:50,585 --> 00:44:55,560
I don't think tractors are evil, but
the, the fact is, uh, the, the, the, the

760
00:44:55,560 --> 00:45:02,430
farm boy is left here in 1940 and they've
been plowing mules and they went to the

761
00:45:02,430 --> 00:45:04,950
European Theater and operated tanks.

762
00:45:05,580 --> 00:45:08,430
When they came home, they
didn't wanna plow a mul.

763
00:45:08,430 --> 00:45:12,450
So tractors, well, again, I don't
think tractors are evil, but we were

764
00:45:12,450 --> 00:45:17,940
just talking about how the, how the
whole, uh, food production thing

765
00:45:17,940 --> 00:45:19,605
turned upside down post World War ii.

766
00:45:21,270 --> 00:45:25,860
And then, so there's the inputs
of chemical fertilizers, the urea

767
00:45:25,890 --> 00:45:30,180
or Romanian based fertilizers,
pesticides, all, you know, essentially

768
00:45:30,180 --> 00:45:35,610
a result of the Second World War
repurposing factories and materials.

769
00:45:36,540 --> 00:45:42,240
What about the mindset of monoculture
Bermuda grass or not, or year out?

770
00:45:42,535 --> 00:45:46,740
Like what was the, what was the
sense of, because that's like massive

771
00:45:46,740 --> 00:45:49,920
simplification of nature, right?

772
00:45:50,190 --> 00:45:52,050
Well, it, it made life so much easier.

773
00:45:52,830 --> 00:45:56,160
I mean, you could, you know, again,
my dad became an expert cattleman.

774
00:45:57,150 --> 00:45:58,800
He didn't have to know
anything about hogs.

775
00:45:58,800 --> 00:46:02,880
And she, he took pride in the
fact he was an expert cattleman.

776
00:46:03,780 --> 00:46:08,580
And, you know, he and I would've
fought because we fought anyway.

777
00:46:08,670 --> 00:46:13,350
We fought anyway, but we, we would've
fought on the fact that that whole

778
00:46:13,920 --> 00:46:17,160
evolution dumbed farming down.

779
00:46:18,360 --> 00:46:22,170
You know, he could become an
expert in cattle production because

780
00:46:22,170 --> 00:46:25,200
he did have know anything about
anything but cattle production.

781
00:46:26,340 --> 00:46:30,240
And, uh, it, it didn't make him a less
smart person, but it caused him to have

782
00:46:30,240 --> 00:46:36,030
less focus on all these other things
so he could become better at that.

783
00:46:36,570 --> 00:46:44,130
But it made him vulnerable to big
players taking advantage, because

784
00:46:44,160 --> 00:46:46,080
when he produced those cattle.

785
00:46:46,665 --> 00:46:48,585
He didn't have a market for
the beef, he didn't have the

786
00:46:48,645 --> 00:46:50,295
capacity to slaughter the beef.

787
00:46:50,925 --> 00:46:52,515
He didn't have a market for the beef.

788
00:46:53,565 --> 00:46:58,785
So he was, uh, it didn't happen all
at one time, but since that time

789
00:46:59,235 --> 00:47:03,375
we've been increasing from a marketing
perspective, have less and less

790
00:47:03,375 --> 00:47:05,690
and less players to market to it.

791
00:47:05,695 --> 00:47:10,185
Two who had more and more
and more market power.

792
00:47:11,205 --> 00:47:16,275
And that's why the percentage of the
food dollar that the farmer gets is

793
00:47:16,275 --> 00:47:19,095
so much lower than it used to be.

794
00:47:20,145 --> 00:47:22,305
I think it's, don't hold
me to these figures.

795
00:47:22,305 --> 00:47:25,365
You can look it up, but I
think it's less than 15 cents.

796
00:47:25,695 --> 00:47:27,885
And it depends on what
commodity you're talking about.

797
00:47:28,425 --> 00:47:34,455
I look on the averages, less than 15
cents of the, of the food dollar goes

798
00:47:34,455 --> 00:47:42,105
to the farmer and you know, white oak
pastures, a hundred cents of the food

799
00:47:42,435 --> 00:47:43,545
goes to white Oak pastors pastor.

800
00:47:44,290 --> 00:47:45,615
Now I got a lot of costs,

801
00:47:47,685 --> 00:47:52,335
but I don't mind that, you know,
well, white Oak Pastors is the largest

802
00:47:52,335 --> 00:47:54,375
employer in Clay County, Georgia.

803
00:47:54,435 --> 00:47:55,665
You in Clay County, Georgia right now.

804
00:47:56,625 --> 00:47:58,365
County, Georgia County in America.

805
00:48:00,915 --> 00:48:04,575
We got so, so employees.

806
00:48:12,345 --> 00:48:14,565
I get a hundred cents of that dollar.

807
00:48:15,315 --> 00:48:20,415
Now I spend $5 million a year on
payroll, but I spend $5 million a year

808
00:48:20,415 --> 00:48:22,425
on payroll in Clay County, Georgia.

809
00:48:22,635 --> 00:48:23,745
It stays here.

810
00:48:24,465 --> 00:48:26,865
I don't get to keep it
all, but it stays here.

811
00:48:27,675 --> 00:48:30,915
It's just, it's a much healthier system.

812
00:48:33,105 --> 00:48:35,115
It's, it's healthy for other reasons too.

813
00:48:35,235 --> 00:48:36,100
You know, when, uh,

814
00:48:38,265 --> 00:48:42,735
uh, when we had the, uh, the pandemic, uh,

815
00:48:45,285 --> 00:48:50,295
the, the, the, the big beef, the big
slaughter plants closed down, and

816
00:48:50,295 --> 00:48:54,585
I'm very, it could have happened, but
I'm very proud to tell you we never

817
00:48:54,585 --> 00:48:56,535
missed a day slaughtering cattle.

818
00:48:57,255 --> 00:48:57,945
Not one day.

819
00:48:58,125 --> 00:49:01,725
So no one turned up here
and said, shut down.

820
00:49:01,755 --> 00:49:05,775
There's close contact, there's disaster.

821
00:49:06,855 --> 00:49:09,375
There was that discussion,
but nobody made me do it.

822
00:49:10,005 --> 00:49:13,630
You know, some, somebody was
gonna make me do that, and nobody,

823
00:49:13,785 --> 00:49:15,525
nobody showed up to make me do it.

824
00:49:15,615 --> 00:49:20,055
We, we served food, we got a restaurant,
and they did, they did tell us we

825
00:49:20,055 --> 00:49:21,795
couldn't serve food anymore, but we did.

826
00:49:22,130 --> 00:49:30,645
And we just, we just never, now,
of my 70 employees, probably all

827
00:49:30,645 --> 00:49:32,325
of us got COVID at some point.

828
00:49:32,745 --> 00:49:34,870
I did, like everybody did.

829
00:49:37,305 --> 00:49:38,325
Not one day.

830
00:49:38,685 --> 00:49:42,915
You know, we all, we kept working,
you know, I, I, I, I, I, I don't

831
00:49:42,915 --> 00:49:49,335
think I've ever videoed a TV screen
before, but during that COVID panic,

832
00:49:50,205 --> 00:49:58,214
uh, the, uh, c the CN one morning,
putting on my boots and the CCEO of

833
00:49:58,214 --> 00:50:05,865
Tyson Foods said the, the, uh, the
food production chain is, I can't, with

834
00:50:05,865 --> 00:50:07,335
it's dead or something to that effect.

835
00:50:07,964 --> 00:50:11,265
And I, I, I snatched my
phone up and videoed it.

836
00:50:11,265 --> 00:50:14,895
And I, we didn't know, we didn't
know what happened in Bluffton.

837
00:50:14,984 --> 00:50:17,325
We heard about it, we
kept operating property.

838
00:50:17,790 --> 00:50:21,495
But isn't that a great lesson though,
like that, that, that's like a shining

839
00:50:21,495 --> 00:50:29,055
example of resilience, sovereignty, you
know, fuck the pandemic and all that

840
00:50:29,265 --> 00:50:31,185
other stuff that happened around that.

841
00:50:31,185 --> 00:50:34,545
I mean, that's a whole nother
conversation, but it's like, what a

842
00:50:34,545 --> 00:50:41,444
shining example of resilience in a
community, employment, food supply,

843
00:50:41,714 --> 00:50:48,254
sustainable, you know, the, the economics,
the whole thing, health, I mean, you

844
00:50:48,254 --> 00:50:52,875
know, the, and the food that you continue
to, to supply was the most nutritious

845
00:50:52,875 --> 00:50:54,045
stuff that people could have anyway.

846
00:50:54,404 --> 00:50:59,805
Well, I, athlete we are quite
resilient, but the, the, the real

847
00:50:59,805 --> 00:51:03,555
strength of it is if we did falter.

848
00:51:04,920 --> 00:51:06,870
It wouldn't starve the whole country.

849
00:51:07,775 --> 00:51:11,955
You know, I, I don't, I don't, you
know, I think that that one of the

850
00:51:11,960 --> 00:51:14,880
places we've gone, one of the many
places we've gone wrong is this

851
00:51:14,880 --> 00:51:17,280
centralization of food production.

852
00:51:17,970 --> 00:51:22,290
So that we're making, we're producing
so much of our food, not not just

853
00:51:22,290 --> 00:51:27,925
meat, whether it's, whether it's oats
or rice or grapes or whatever the,

854
00:51:27,925 --> 00:51:31,805
whatever livestock, probably especially.

855
00:51:32,845 --> 00:51:37,830
But it's so centralized and
controlled by so few players

856
00:51:38,730 --> 00:51:42,300
that, and let's talk about this.

857
00:51:43,080 --> 00:51:49,290
Mm. Those big players have
achieved incredible efficiency.

858
00:51:50,550 --> 00:51:54,180
Everything that's been done for the
last 80 years has been to make it

859
00:51:54,180 --> 00:51:56,160
more and more and more efficient.

860
00:51:57,240 --> 00:52:02,340
And I'm tell you now, efficiency
and resiliency are ying and yang.

861
00:52:03,705 --> 00:52:08,190
The more efficient, and I'm not
anti efficiency, but I'm here to

862
00:52:08,190 --> 00:52:14,010
tell you that the more efficient a
system becomes, the less resilient.

863
00:52:14,100 --> 00:52:19,680
It's the higher you build a
building, the, the greater the,

864
00:52:22,385 --> 00:52:24,870
uh, opportunity for it to, to fall.

865
00:52:25,410 --> 00:52:32,610
So, you know, I think, I think that
we've, uh, really taken great risks.

866
00:52:34,935 --> 00:52:39,515
Uber efficient food production
system that could, that could fail.

867
00:52:40,445 --> 00:52:43,290
And, and do you put that under
the banner of industrialization?

868
00:52:43,650 --> 00:52:44,430
Is that kind of

869
00:52:44,700 --> 00:52:45,600
centralization?

870
00:52:45,600 --> 00:52:46,230
Centralization?

871
00:52:46,305 --> 00:52:48,305
I, I What's the d What you
tell us the difference.

872
00:52:48,305 --> 00:52:48,545
Yeah.

873
00:52:48,705 --> 00:52:55,080
I think three things that I'm in
opposition to, industrialization,

874
00:52:55,200 --> 00:52:57,420
commoditization, and centralization.

875
00:52:58,590 --> 00:53:05,790
We can talk all day long about all three
of them, but, uh, centralization is kind

876
00:53:05,790 --> 00:53:11,670
of, and, and they're all part of this
conversation, but centralization is, uh,

877
00:53:11,700 --> 00:53:19,230
these, the small number of really high
volume food production and processing

878
00:53:19,230 --> 00:53:27,240
centers that we've got as opposed to a
decentralized, so centralization, uh,

879
00:53:27,750 --> 00:53:32,250
commoditization, you know, those, there
was a time when my great grandfather

880
00:53:32,700 --> 00:53:34,320
and grandfather ruined this farm.

881
00:53:34,920 --> 00:53:41,160
They were very successful because they
really put a lot of emphasis on making

882
00:53:41,160 --> 00:53:43,740
their product the best it could be.

883
00:53:44,670 --> 00:53:48,265
Not, not, not because of of pride,
but because they wanted more thought.

884
00:53:48,825 --> 00:53:54,134
It, it offered them the opportunity to
charge a premium because they, they,

885
00:53:54,500 --> 00:53:59,895
they produced a really good, it forced
them to produce a really good product.

886
00:53:59,984 --> 00:54:01,634
So a focus on quality.

887
00:54:01,640 --> 00:54:01,870
Right.

888
00:54:02,865 --> 00:54:11,415
And, and commoditization on the other hand
is putting a, uh, a, a lowest possible,

889
00:54:12,105 --> 00:54:14,774
uh, acceptance of what you're producing.

890
00:54:16,095 --> 00:54:20,234
And if you're, if you're focused
on quality selling into the

891
00:54:20,234 --> 00:54:22,004
commodity market, you go broke.

892
00:54:22,634 --> 00:54:27,819
Because what you need to be doing is
producing as low quality sheep a product

893
00:54:27,919 --> 00:54:30,134
as you can to get the commodity price

894
00:54:31,335 --> 00:54:31,754
and high turnover.

895
00:54:31,754 --> 00:54:31,845
Yeah.

896
00:54:34,154 --> 00:54:37,665
And of course, industrialization is
this, this what we were talking about

897
00:54:37,665 --> 00:54:42,884
earlier, moving this whole production
system from that very cyclical

898
00:54:42,915 --> 00:54:45,825
appreciation to that very linear approach.

899
00:54:46,544 --> 00:54:50,685
So commoditization,
socialization, industrialization.

900
00:54:51,555 --> 00:54:59,564
And that the, the, the triad is, is
essentially, um, I mean that, that applies

901
00:54:59,564 --> 00:55:04,814
to not just agriculture, that applies to
big pharma too, or pharmaceutical health.

902
00:55:04,814 --> 00:55:10,274
The health, you know, industry or the
health kind of probably, I'm, I'm a guy.

903
00:55:10,484 --> 00:55:10,819
I mean, I.

904
00:55:13,095 --> 00:55:17,834
I'm, but I know those applications,
but I know exactly what's

905
00:55:17,834 --> 00:55:21,314
happened in agriculture, food
production, and I just told you,

906
00:55:22,605 --> 00:55:28,125
um, and also, and I listened to
yourself and Jenny on, on Joe Rogan

907
00:55:28,125 --> 00:55:38,265
there about, um, I can't remember how
Jenny phrased it was like, you, uh,

908
00:55:38,325 --> 00:55:40,605
you know, you create the, what was it?

909
00:55:40,605 --> 00:55:42,225
Selling bandaids and bullets?

910
00:55:42,225 --> 00:55:42,345
Is

911
00:55:42,345 --> 00:55:42,674
that it?

912
00:55:43,245 --> 00:55:44,384
Selling bandaids and bullets?

913
00:55:44,984 --> 00:55:45,254
Yeah.

914
00:55:45,254 --> 00:55:45,345
Well,

915
00:55:45,345 --> 00:55:45,355
yeah.

916
00:55:45,765 --> 00:55:46,004
Yeah.

917
00:55:46,214 --> 00:55:47,774
That's my, that's my Is that yours?

918
00:55:47,779 --> 00:55:49,100
Yeah, you go, that's great.

919
00:55:49,410 --> 00:55:50,060
Explain that one.

920
00:55:50,120 --> 00:55:58,154
That's we, I mean, God, what a, what a
what a trick is sell bandaids and bullets.

921
00:55:58,515 --> 00:56:05,444
If you sell drugs and pesticides,
you, you, you creating your own

922
00:56:05,444 --> 00:56:08,084
market, it's just a great deal.

923
00:56:08,084 --> 00:56:17,055
You sell a product that has a
perceived benefit because a, a health

924
00:56:17,055 --> 00:56:20,415
problem, then you sell the health

925
00:56:22,515 --> 00:56:25,035
pharmaceutical to fix that.

926
00:56:25,319 --> 00:56:26,060
And I,

927
00:56:28,634 --> 00:56:30,825
I, I, and this is opinion.

928
00:56:31,650 --> 00:56:32,310
I can't prove this.

929
00:56:33,270 --> 00:56:39,960
Well, when, when that fertilizer salesman
came over here, I, I, I'm, I'm sure

930
00:56:39,960 --> 00:56:47,160
he was very innocent in his belief
that this ammonium nitrate fertilizer

931
00:56:47,160 --> 00:56:50,760
that used to be part of the explosive
program was really good for farmers.

932
00:56:50,915 --> 00:56:52,380
And I, I bet he believed that.

933
00:56:54,360 --> 00:57:00,960
And probably when the first pesticides
was produced, the, the, the, uh,

934
00:57:00,990 --> 00:57:05,400
chemists, whoever produced it probably
thought he had, he or she had come up

935
00:57:05,400 --> 00:57:10,830
with, uh, a technology that was gonna
benefit mankind and through production.

936
00:57:11,880 --> 00:57:13,425
But I don't think that's true anymore.

937
00:57:13,905 --> 00:57:22,590
I think that the, uh, the sophistication
now is the point when, when these

938
00:57:22,590 --> 00:57:27,360
manufacturers of pesticides sell
a product that fixes a problem,

939
00:57:28,380 --> 00:57:31,080
there's every understanding is
gonna cause another problem.

940
00:57:31,080 --> 00:57:34,920
It's gonna require another
pesticide that's gonna fix that

941
00:57:34,920 --> 00:57:39,660
problem, but create another
problem that for another pesticide.

942
00:57:40,410 --> 00:57:41,490
And there's no end to it.

943
00:57:42,150 --> 00:57:43,350
There's simply no end to it.

944
00:57:44,310 --> 00:57:52,170
And all that money, those pesticides
is flowing from rural America into

945
00:57:52,170 --> 00:57:58,275
these multinational pesticides and.

946
00:58:02,220 --> 00:58:02,930
Rural America.

947
00:58:03,375 --> 00:58:11,175
This is where the people are getting
cancer, atrazine in ground, on we

948
00:58:12,315 --> 00:58:16,335
extinction, and all these terrible things.

949
00:58:18,825 --> 00:58:22,065
And there's so much money involved.

950
00:58:22,515 --> 00:58:24,585
I dunno how it's ever gonna be corrected.

951
00:58:29,145 --> 00:58:32,685
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960
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961
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962
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963
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979
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980
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981
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985
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986
01:00:24,915 --> 01:00:26,535
function of your landscape.

987
01:00:31,665 --> 01:00:36,375
Well, Zach Bush has done, you know,
he often talks about the glyphosate.

988
01:00:36,885 --> 01:00:40,365
I can't, Mississippi River,
the glyphosate or something.

989
01:00:42,460 --> 01:00:44,850
Glyphosate and.

990
01:00:46,035 --> 01:00:52,694
Health impacts, you know, disease and
cancers, um, as glyphosate use increased,

991
01:00:52,694 --> 01:00:56,654
there was this sort of, you know,
increase in that, in those health impacts.

992
01:00:56,930 --> 01:00:58,500
Yeah, Zach, so you gotta talk about that.

993
01:00:58,740 --> 01:01:00,299
I mean, he Yeah, that's right.

994
01:01:00,410 --> 01:01:01,995
That, that's his, that's his thing.

995
01:01:01,995 --> 01:01:07,845
But it's like it's, I mean, but it sits
reasonably comfortable comfortably in

996
01:01:07,845 --> 01:01:12,525
this conversation in terms of, you know,
that's the result of the intention or

997
01:01:12,525 --> 01:01:14,505
the business model more, more, more so.

998
01:01:14,505 --> 01:01:14,595
And

999
01:01:14,595 --> 01:01:18,225
there's, I mean, I certainly can't
prove, there's no doubt in my mind

1000
01:01:18,230 --> 01:01:20,475
that, that, that it's what's happening.

1001
01:01:20,535 --> 01:01:23,384
And I believe that the brilliant
people that run these companies

1002
01:01:23,384 --> 01:01:25,095
probably know and understand it.

1003
01:01:25,095 --> 01:01:27,015
It's just so much money
you can't not do it.

1004
01:01:27,585 --> 01:01:27,734
Yeah.

1005
01:01:28,904 --> 01:01:34,515
Tell me, um, I had, I put a little
call out to some of my followers

1006
01:01:35,025 --> 01:01:36,944
people the other day yesterday.

1007
01:01:36,944 --> 01:01:39,495
I was actually, and they, I said,
you've got any questions for Will?

1008
01:01:40,154 --> 01:01:41,415
And I had a few that'd come back.

1009
01:01:41,924 --> 01:01:48,015
Can we get, given we're in a sort of big
pharma world, um, what's quite topical

1010
01:01:48,015 --> 01:01:53,085
in Australia, and I'm sure it's to some
extent over here, but I think you guys

1011
01:01:53,174 --> 01:01:57,855
in, well I say you guys in the US it's
been sort of happening for a lot longer.

1012
01:01:58,305 --> 01:02:06,105
The mRNA vaccines that are being developed
and researched for use in livestock.

1013
01:02:07,185 --> 01:02:08,145
That's a big thing.

1014
01:02:08,714 --> 01:02:11,475
Like literally in the last couple
of days, there's been reports

1015
01:02:11,475 --> 01:02:13,694
about different departments.

1016
01:02:15,029 --> 01:02:22,950
Funding research with other organizations,
and I think a pretty clear signal that

1017
01:02:23,460 --> 01:02:29,879
it's gonna be, you know, encouraged
and supported to be made available

1018
01:02:29,910 --> 01:02:32,430
for livestock use, if not mandated.

1019
01:02:32,430 --> 01:02:33,029
Hopefully not.

1020
01:02:33,120 --> 01:02:34,770
What, where's that up to over here?

1021
01:02:34,775 --> 01:02:36,714
Have you got a, do you

1022
01:02:37,464 --> 01:02:38,515
Yeah, yeah.

1023
01:02:38,634 --> 01:02:42,750
I mean, I can't tell you, I know a heck
of a lot about mRNA vaccines, but I

1024
01:02:42,750 --> 01:02:50,790
can tell you that when I was operating
Uber industrially, my drug salesman

1025
01:02:50,790 --> 01:02:53,815
loved me and I loved my drug salesman.

1026
01:02:54,634 --> 01:02:58,109
And he would come by and
say, we've got something new.

1027
01:02:58,290 --> 01:03:02,700
And we, when he said that he had
my wrapped interest, whatever

1028
01:03:02,700 --> 01:03:04,500
he had to sell, I would buy it.

1029
01:03:06,509 --> 01:03:12,240
And, uh, I, I, I simply gave them
everything that the drug salesman

1030
01:03:14,460 --> 01:03:15,480
wanted to sell me.

1031
01:03:16,680 --> 01:03:21,990
And, and I can't, I can't tell
you that I ever saw, uh, an ill

1032
01:03:21,990 --> 01:03:24,720
effect of, of a bat with my eyes.

1033
01:03:26,339 --> 01:03:32,009
But when I made the decision to change,
I ceased to give my animals anything.

1034
01:03:32,520 --> 01:03:33,720
I can give any vaccinations.

1035
01:03:43,395 --> 01:03:46,785
We have a disease called black leg.

1036
01:03:46,785 --> 01:03:47,505
You have that in Australia.

1037
01:03:47,625 --> 01:03:47,955
Mm-hmm.

1038
01:03:48,340 --> 01:03:52,905
It's, it's in, it's in the soil, but
it doesn't manifest itself unless

1039
01:03:52,905 --> 01:03:54,675
the conditions are just right.

1040
01:03:55,695 --> 01:04:03,765
So, uh, uh, one year I lost I,
a dozen or so cast a black leg.

1041
01:04:04,365 --> 01:04:06,885
Hadn't lost, hadn't given
black leg for years.

1042
01:04:06,885 --> 01:04:09,285
Hadn't lost in, for years that year.

1043
01:04:09,495 --> 01:04:10,905
I guess the conditions were just right.

1044
01:04:10,905 --> 01:04:15,705
We lost, lost some calves and I told my
guys, you can go back to giving them.

1045
01:04:17,150 --> 01:04:17,370
And,

1046
01:04:20,865 --> 01:04:24,195
but I don't think we, I that
think that black vaccines has

1047
01:04:24,195 --> 01:04:25,725
got some other things in it.

1048
01:04:25,730 --> 01:04:25,970
Yeah.

1049
01:04:25,970 --> 01:04:27,970
Like a, like a one or something like that.

1050
01:04:28,185 --> 01:04:28,335
Yeah.

1051
01:04:28,935 --> 01:04:36,165
But, uh, but we're very lean on the
side of getting, uh, vaccines or

1052
01:04:36,165 --> 01:04:44,535
antibiotics or, um, as far as, or we
don't use any fly control, uh, at all.

1053
01:04:46,065 --> 01:04:46,785
You Yeah.

1054
01:04:46,995 --> 01:04:49,935
And you certainly advertise,
you know, front and center.

1055
01:04:49,935 --> 01:04:53,470
You are not using glyphosate
and not using, I can't

1056
01:04:53,550 --> 01:04:54,225
remember what the wording was.

1057
01:04:54,225 --> 01:04:58,095
You know, chemicals generally in,
certainly in the paddock situations.

1058
01:04:58,180 --> 01:04:58,470
Yeah.

1059
01:04:58,550 --> 01:05:00,710
I hadn't used any chemical
probably 20 years.

1060
01:05:00,930 --> 01:05:03,150
Any pesticides on, on 20 years.

1061
01:05:03,730 --> 01:05:05,745
Um, I got a new.

1062
01:05:09,060 --> 01:05:14,370
Noninvasive plant called tropical soda
apple and it kicking my, but right now,

1063
01:05:27,330 --> 01:05:29,940
the organic spray that's supposed
to, which we're experimenting

1064
01:05:29,940 --> 01:05:31,025
with it, I hope it does it

1065
01:05:31,290 --> 01:05:33,945
so is a, it's a commercial
product you've found that someone

1066
01:05:33,945 --> 01:05:35,465
else makes, it's not a brew.

1067
01:05:35,465 --> 01:05:36,545
You, you, you together

1068
01:05:36,655 --> 01:05:37,985
knew, bought it, bought, yeah.

1069
01:05:38,205 --> 01:05:42,925
As a organic, I hope it, I hope it works.

1070
01:05:44,145 --> 01:05:45,660
It, I dunno what I'll do.

1071
01:05:45,660 --> 01:05:47,550
If it doesn't, I'll we'll figure it out.

1072
01:05:47,640 --> 01:05:48,750
But it's, it's a problem.

1073
01:05:49,080 --> 01:05:53,700
You know, it's a non-native invasive,
what that means is you came in here

1074
01:05:53,700 --> 01:06:00,000
from somewhere else and we didn't, and
we didn't, we have not brought in what

1075
01:06:00,000 --> 01:06:07,515
controls it, where it was, you know,
when you've got a, a, uh, a, a biome,

1076
01:06:08,790 --> 01:06:15,360
you know, you've got all kinds of, of,
of living creatures and you've got things

1077
01:06:15,360 --> 01:06:17,490
that control those living creatures.

1078
01:06:17,760 --> 01:06:21,395
And we do things that get it thrown
off and wasn't the case of this.

1079
01:06:21,675 --> 01:06:22,115
I think that.

1080
01:06:23,610 --> 01:06:25,770
How it got here, birds or whatever.

1081
01:06:25,770 --> 01:06:27,870
But it, it's, it's here.

1082
01:06:27,870 --> 01:06:29,010
And it didn't used to be here.

1083
01:06:29,280 --> 01:06:30,450
Is there a biological control?

1084
01:06:30,450 --> 01:06:31,980
Is there a bug or a beetle or a

1085
01:06:32,040 --> 01:06:32,970
weev or something?

1086
01:06:33,870 --> 01:06:38,250
Uh, so the University of Florida
in Florida is 50 miles that way.

1087
01:06:38,255 --> 01:06:38,465
Mm-hmm.

1088
01:06:39,090 --> 01:06:46,920
The University of Florida, uh,
brought up some Beatles from Paraguay

1089
01:06:47,430 --> 01:06:48,930
Oray, south American country.

1090
01:06:49,405 --> 01:06:52,950
And, uh, and they, it was cleared.

1091
01:06:52,955 --> 01:06:57,990
They, they were, they were found and
believed to be safe, not, not become

1092
01:06:57,990 --> 01:07:04,770
another pe And they, they sent me some
to try sent and I, you know, some day,

1093
01:07:05,130 --> 01:07:08,010
this is last year, some days I think
they're working, some days I think

1094
01:07:08,010 --> 01:07:13,650
they're not working, but, uh, they, the
concern was that we're a little too far

1095
01:07:13,650 --> 01:07:16,290
north that they may not over winter.

1096
01:07:16,680 --> 01:07:20,425
So I don't know whether they're
working or not, but they're, they're

1097
01:07:20,425 --> 01:07:22,350
certainly at this point not adequate

1098
01:07:22,800 --> 01:07:23,790
and nothing's gonna eat it.

1099
01:07:23,895 --> 01:07:25,345
Your goats not eating it.

1100
01:07:25,675 --> 01:07:28,305
Sheep, nothing tastes like shit.

1101
01:07:29,105 --> 01:07:31,865
Well, it's, it's just arm,
it's got thorns on it.

1102
01:07:32,215 --> 01:07:32,505
Yeah.

1103
01:07:32,940 --> 01:07:36,840
Uh, my cow, my cow manager told me
he thought he saw some cattle eating

1104
01:07:37,020 --> 01:07:41,220
really young, tender stuff and I
can't, I can't catch him doing it.

1105
01:07:41,670 --> 01:07:42,390
He may be right.

1106
01:07:44,250 --> 01:07:50,370
He's more time with him than I'm, um,
I spend a lot of time, but he's more so

1107
01:07:50,375 --> 01:07:54,990
he, he would see it before I would, he,
he thinks he's seen it and, and maybe

1108
01:07:55,260 --> 01:07:58,480
it'll, you know, maybe they'll develop an
appetite for it and help, help control it.

1109
01:07:59,700 --> 01:07:59,800
I guess.

1110
01:07:59,800 --> 01:08:00,835
I, I've seen things
like that happen before.

1111
01:08:01,025 --> 01:08:01,315
Yeah.

1112
01:08:01,575 --> 01:08:07,410
And I guess know the more diverse there,
the normal diet is in their pasture base,

1113
01:08:07,770 --> 01:08:10,440
the more they might be inclined to nibble
on it every now and again, you know?

1114
01:08:10,535 --> 01:08:10,830
Yeah, yeah.

1115
01:08:10,830 --> 01:08:13,680
Because it's sort of, you know, something
in there, they're so clever that something

1116
01:08:13,680 --> 01:08:19,410
that in this diverse pasture might offset
toxicity or even things like you put out,

1117
01:08:19,770 --> 01:08:21,510
you said magnesium, you put out bent.

1118
01:08:21,510 --> 01:08:23,490
Is it bentonite or dolomite?

1119
01:08:23,490 --> 01:08:26,370
What do you pull out in, is
it a, what's your magnesium?

1120
01:08:27,180 --> 01:08:27,630
Um,

1121
01:08:27,930 --> 01:08:29,430
it's a, uh, I, I dunno.

1122
01:08:29,555 --> 01:08:29,795
Yeah.

1123
01:08:30,555 --> 01:08:34,035
I buy it from a, a, a supplement company.

1124
01:08:34,145 --> 01:08:34,435
Yeah.

1125
01:08:35,295 --> 01:08:36,755
The tags here somewhere.

1126
01:08:36,904 --> 01:08:37,194
Yeah.

1127
01:08:37,194 --> 01:08:37,595
That's

1128
01:08:37,595 --> 01:08:37,675
cool.

1129
01:08:37,675 --> 01:08:41,729
Well, because something like
dolomite being like a clay, it'll,

1130
01:08:41,819 --> 01:08:45,490
it'll help, you know, drag out
some of those toxins in there.

1131
01:08:45,490 --> 01:08:47,460
But it, anyway, that's another,
that's a whole nother thing.

1132
01:08:47,880 --> 01:08:55,229
Tell me, um, I'm going to step back
in time again to, um, get a bit

1133
01:08:55,229 --> 01:08:58,200
chronological home to the farm.

1134
01:08:58,380 --> 01:09:02,819
No Uni, Georgia State University, univers
of Georgia, the University of Georgia.

1135
01:09:03,420 --> 01:09:06,300
Did your studies there,

1136
01:09:07,080 --> 01:09:10,800
came home, did it as dad did.

1137
01:09:12,330 --> 01:09:13,350
And at some point.

1138
01:09:14,370 --> 01:09:17,910
There was, I don't know,
was it a single event?

1139
01:09:17,910 --> 01:09:18,899
Was it an epiphany?

1140
01:09:18,899 --> 01:09:24,720
Was it a series of tension events
that kind of went, ah, like I

1141
01:09:24,720 --> 01:09:25,859
gotta do something differently?

1142
01:09:25,859 --> 01:09:29,309
Was there, you know, what was the,
is there a moment or was it just

1143
01:09:29,309 --> 01:09:31,529
a, like a long period of stretch?

1144
01:09:33,090 --> 01:09:33,779
Kind of both.

1145
01:09:33,779 --> 01:09:40,620
I think that the, what happened over a
longer period of time is, uh, because

1146
01:09:40,620 --> 01:09:47,069
I was a very heavy handed abuser,
you know, if the rate, if it was two

1147
01:09:47,069 --> 01:09:49,170
ccs per hundred, I'd give them three.

1148
01:09:49,890 --> 01:09:51,705
It was a pipe I put.

1149
01:09:52,765 --> 01:10:00,065
So I think that, that, that had caused
me to start to, uh, see at some level

1150
01:10:00,870 --> 01:10:06,300
the, the unintended consequences
of the, of the, those technologies.

1151
01:10:06,415 --> 01:10:06,705
What

1152
01:10:06,705 --> 01:10:08,370
did you, what

1153
01:10:11,010 --> 01:10:13,440
Well, the best example would
be that soil I told you about.

1154
01:10:15,330 --> 01:10:17,370
Just, just the difference
in where, where it was.

1155
01:10:17,370 --> 01:10:17,460
Can

1156
01:10:17,460 --> 01:10:18,510
I get that soil over there?

1157
01:10:18,720 --> 01:10:19,290
You stay there.

1158
01:10:19,495 --> 01:10:22,470
Yes, sir. Because this is,
this is really interesting.

1159
01:10:24,780 --> 01:10:26,085
But if there was an event,

1160
01:10:26,385 --> 01:10:32,460
it was, we were loading out a load
of Cal one morning and you can put,

1161
01:10:33,030 --> 01:10:38,625
you can put nearly a hundred, 500
pound calves on a double decker truck.

1162
01:10:40,009 --> 01:10:40,230
Mm.

1163
01:10:40,545 --> 01:10:46,184
And we loaded a truck and, and the ones
on, I've done it a lot of times in my

1164
01:10:46,184 --> 01:10:50,474
life, but the ones on top, urinating and
defecating on the ones on the bottom.

1165
01:10:50,894 --> 01:10:55,125
And they were gonna be on that truck maybe
30 hours without food or water or rest.

1166
01:10:57,110 --> 01:10:58,070
I don't do this anymore.

1167
01:10:59,070 --> 01:10:59,589
I didn't.

1168
01:11:00,405 --> 01:11:01,155
And when was that?

1169
01:11:01,155 --> 01:11:04,184
20, probably mid nineties.

1170
01:11:04,514 --> 01:11:05,384
Trying to get you to focus

1171
01:11:05,535 --> 01:11:05,625
there

1172
01:11:05,714 --> 01:11:05,835
again.

1173
01:11:05,955 --> 01:11:06,585
Mid nineties.

1174
01:11:06,585 --> 01:11:06,884
So what's

1175
01:11:06,884 --> 01:11:07,155
that?

1176
01:11:09,014 --> 01:11:09,990
30 years ago.

1177
01:11:10,250 --> 01:11:11,190
30 years ago.

1178
01:11:12,429 --> 01:11:14,835
But now you know that that's when
I, that's when I started the change.

1179
01:11:14,865 --> 01:11:15,105
Yeah.

1180
01:11:15,105 --> 01:11:20,535
I'm not, I'm not gonna tell you, I
hadn't used any of those technologies

1181
01:11:20,625 --> 01:11:25,815
over 30 years, but by the time, by,
by the time I was 20 years into, or 25

1182
01:11:25,815 --> 01:11:27,705
years, I had ceased to use all of them.

1183
01:11:28,875 --> 01:11:30,705
So you didn't go cold Turkey.

1184
01:11:30,710 --> 01:11:32,655
You just, you you eased out of it.

1185
01:11:32,655 --> 01:11:35,594
It it, it was pretty cold
Turkey, but not completely cold.

1186
01:11:35,745 --> 01:11:36,009
Pretty cold.

1187
01:11:36,224 --> 01:11:38,235
I'm just trying to get you focus,
don use, have a sip on that.

1188
01:11:39,165 --> 01:11:43,275
Trying get that face
of yours back in focus.

1189
01:11:43,605 --> 01:11:43,995
Handsome.

1190
01:11:44,745 --> 01:11:45,705
It's very handsome.

1191
01:11:45,705 --> 01:11:45,884
Yeah.

1192
01:11:45,884 --> 01:11:47,985
I very, very handsome.

1193
01:11:47,985 --> 01:11:48,554
I get it all the time.

1194
01:11:50,530 --> 01:11:53,775
Well, I have to say, you
know, Mads mad Maddie, who?

1195
01:11:54,255 --> 01:11:55,545
We, we came with a trip today.

1196
01:11:55,605 --> 01:11:56,205
Come with us.

1197
01:11:56,210 --> 01:11:59,205
Our, our nanny Madeline Mads in car.

1198
01:11:59,745 --> 01:12:03,405
No, no, that's Lila Mads,
who's our, um, nanny.

1199
01:12:03,405 --> 01:12:03,485
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1200
01:12:03,615 --> 01:12:04,724
She was telling me about.

1201
01:12:05,445 --> 01:12:07,995
She was really excited to be here for
lots of reasons, but she said, oh,

1202
01:12:08,625 --> 01:12:12,200
Will's voice is just like, she was good.

1203
01:12:13,849 --> 01:12:15,719
She's a sweet child, sweet

1204
01:12:15,719 --> 01:12:16,000
child.

1205
01:12:17,085 --> 01:12:21,674
How she was very excited to just hear
your voice and to see is it better.

1206
01:12:22,094 --> 01:12:22,485
So,

1207
01:12:22,514 --> 01:12:30,315
um, I'm trying to en see clearly so those
Australians can understand what I'm saying

1208
01:12:31,275 --> 01:12:32,865
and profoundly sober.

1209
01:12:33,855 --> 01:12:34,424
I love it.

1210
01:12:34,424 --> 01:12:38,115
I don't want you to go faster and I
want you to tell us everything you can.

1211
01:12:38,474 --> 01:12:42,375
Um, tell me, so over that five
years, what did that look like?

1212
01:12:42,375 --> 01:12:48,195
That, that, that chain, so you went, you
know, those shooting and pissing on each

1213
01:12:48,195 --> 01:12:50,325
other and there's like, I cannot do that.

1214
01:12:50,625 --> 01:12:52,455
What was the, what was the next step?

1215
01:12:52,460 --> 01:12:55,815
What, what, what was the, what was,
like, did you sit down there and write

1216
01:12:55,815 --> 01:12:57,315
a list of things you didn't wanna do?

1217
01:12:57,315 --> 01:12:57,735
Did you I

1218
01:12:58,125 --> 01:13:02,865
don't list, I'm not, I don't write list
down much, but the equivalent of that,

1219
01:13:02,865 --> 01:13:11,120
you know, uh, the, the hardest thing I did
was give up the nitrate urea fertilizer.

1220
01:13:11,349 --> 01:13:12,919
That was hard, man.

1221
01:13:13,099 --> 01:13:13,519
So hard.

1222
01:13:15,440 --> 01:13:16,370
It's just such a

1223
01:13:18,764 --> 01:13:19,724
beneficial flush.

1224
01:13:21,195 --> 01:13:23,085
You see the good, you don't see the bad.

1225
01:13:23,085 --> 01:13:27,460
As we discussed earlier, you know, you
give a, an animal a hormone implant.

1226
01:13:29,755 --> 01:13:33,630
You see the difference over day period.

1227
01:13:33,630 --> 01:13:37,500
If you got one out there that
didn't get it, but it just doesn't,

1228
01:13:37,500 --> 01:13:44,910
you use nitrogen fertilizer, it's
just so apparent, so beneficial.

1229
01:13:46,020 --> 01:13:48,240
Giving, giving up
nitrogen, fertilizer hard.

1230
01:13:50,075 --> 01:13:53,370
And we, and we learned
how to do without it.

1231
01:13:53,805 --> 01:13:57,780
And um, and then some other inputs.

1232
01:13:58,495 --> 01:14:02,070
It's just, it's, it's hard
to give it up, you know.

1233
01:14:02,070 --> 01:14:03,990
I've never, I've never had a drug problem.

1234
01:14:04,115 --> 01:14:06,875
I understand people have drug problem.

1235
01:14:07,535 --> 01:14:08,395
You had an addiction.

1236
01:14:08,795 --> 01:14:09,515
I had an addiction.

1237
01:14:09,915 --> 01:14:10,755
I did have an addiction.

1238
01:14:10,830 --> 01:14:11,610
That's exactly right.

1239
01:14:12,030 --> 01:14:13,830
And you'd, you said you
got rid of the vaccines.

1240
01:14:13,830 --> 01:14:15,555
You went, oh, I'm not gonna do this.

1241
01:14:15,665 --> 01:14:18,720
Like, you know, back then you
got, didn't do any of that.

1242
01:14:19,260 --> 01:14:21,720
What, when did you stop
spraying or killing everything?

1243
01:14:21,720 --> 01:14:22,830
That wasn't Bermuda grass.

1244
01:14:24,420 --> 01:14:25,560
Yeah, I didn't write it down.

1245
01:14:25,560 --> 01:14:26,010
But then it,

1246
01:14:26,580 --> 01:14:27,180
in that period, the

1247
01:14:27,180 --> 01:14:31,920
same window in early two, you know,
1995, early two thousands, uh,

1248
01:14:33,240 --> 01:14:36,240
uh, what were your, what did
your staff say were you, were

1249
01:14:36,240 --> 01:14:38,220
your family, was your dad?

1250
01:14:38,220 --> 01:14:38,310
Dad.

1251
01:14:38,970 --> 01:14:39,030
My

1252
01:14:39,585 --> 01:14:41,010
dad had dementia and now he

1253
01:14:41,010 --> 01:14:41,580
was not

1254
01:14:41,760 --> 01:14:42,900
active in the farm.

1255
01:14:43,650 --> 01:14:48,630
Uh, and my staff, you know, I had
probably four, three or four employees,

1256
01:14:48,630 --> 01:14:50,220
minimum wage, labor, retain that day.

1257
01:14:51,540 --> 01:14:56,190
They just did what Will said, and
they, they probably thought they

1258
01:14:56,190 --> 01:14:57,660
could probably, they're smart people.

1259
01:14:57,660 --> 01:15:02,099
They probably see that unintended
consequences that weren't good, but

1260
01:15:02,099 --> 01:15:03,450
nobody, we didn't talk about it.

1261
01:15:04,019 --> 01:15:05,910
We just, right.

1262
01:15:06,629 --> 01:15:07,620
I'd known anymore.

1263
01:15:07,620 --> 01:15:10,650
But during that window, I ran
the farm very autonomously.

1264
01:15:11,160 --> 01:15:13,919
So we wasn't doing much discussion today.

1265
01:15:13,919 --> 01:15:15,870
There's a lot of discussion
because we've got a lot of smart

1266
01:15:15,870 --> 01:15:18,210
people that, that have valuable

1267
01:15:20,610 --> 01:15:21,269
understandings

1268
01:15:21,690 --> 01:15:22,710
and valuable input.

1269
01:15:23,549 --> 01:15:24,570
And what about your neighbors?

1270
01:15:24,570 --> 01:15:29,400
Do they, um, not that I imagine
you'd give a shit about what they

1271
01:15:29,400 --> 01:15:34,620
think, but was there, like, were
the neighbors saying stuff to other

1272
01:15:34,620 --> 01:15:36,419
people and getting back to you?

1273
01:15:36,450 --> 01:15:40,740
Did you feel like you were the
weirdo doing all this crazy stuff?

1274
01:15:40,769 --> 01:15:41,730
Unconventionally Pro

1275
01:15:41,735 --> 01:15:44,940
Pro, probably, but nobody said
anything to me and I didn't

1276
01:15:44,940 --> 01:15:46,799
care what they said anyway.

1277
01:15:46,889 --> 01:15:48,509
If they had, I wouldn't have cared.

1278
01:15:48,599 --> 01:15:52,349
Uh, they just, that didn't bother me.

1279
01:15:52,710 --> 01:15:56,490
Um, I'm sure they
would've liked it if I was

1280
01:16:06,089 --> 01:16:07,799
music major, but

1281
01:16:07,919 --> 01:16:08,549
I wasn't.

1282
01:16:10,769 --> 01:16:12,809
You hard, hard

1283
01:16:12,809 --> 01:16:13,110
to,

1284
01:16:13,710 --> 01:16:14,849
uh, it's hard.

1285
01:16:15,299 --> 01:16:19,565
I don't care who you're, it's
hard to be uber critical.

1286
01:16:22,065 --> 01:16:28,520
You were raised with that weighs as much
as you do that doesn't care what you, you

1287
01:16:28,520 --> 01:16:30,645
know, it's just, I wasn't a good target.

1288
01:16:30,780 --> 01:16:33,495
Mm. I can imagine.

1289
01:16:33,765 --> 01:16:33,975
So

1290
01:16:33,975 --> 01:16:35,655
I I didn't have any trouble.

1291
01:16:36,345 --> 01:16:36,405
No.

1292
01:16:36,405 --> 01:16:41,295
Was there, was there a time, can you
recall a time when someone or a group of

1293
01:16:41,295 --> 01:16:47,145
people went, Hey, will, like, generally
curious about what you were doing and

1294
01:16:47,145 --> 01:16:49,065
said, can you tell us what you're doing?

1295
01:16:49,155 --> 01:16:49,755
You know, like,

1296
01:16:50,865 --> 01:16:51,255
oh,

1297
01:16:51,825 --> 01:16:53,295
why is that, why is that working?

1298
01:16:53,295 --> 01:16:54,525
Or why is that cow look healthier or,

1299
01:16:55,395 --> 01:17:00,640
well see, so, uh, not my neighbors,
because my neighbors are very,

1300
01:17:00,640 --> 01:17:01,720
and it's never the neighbors.

1301
01:17:01,750 --> 01:17:02,200
They good.

1302
01:17:02,220 --> 01:17:02,440
Huh?

1303
01:17:02,550 --> 01:17:03,440
It's never the neighbors.

1304
01:17:03,440 --> 01:17:03,560
Yeah.

1305
01:17:03,560 --> 01:17:05,440
Well, my, my neighbors
are, they're good people.

1306
01:17:05,440 --> 01:17:05,680
Yeah.

1307
01:17:05,680 --> 01:17:07,965
Now let's just be clear,
they're wonderful people.

1308
01:17:07,970 --> 01:17:08,080
Totally.

1309
01:17:08,085 --> 01:17:10,785
They family people, they work hard.

1310
01:17:11,565 --> 01:17:16,125
They, and they, they farm like their daddy
and their granddaddy taught 'em to farm.

1311
01:17:16,125 --> 01:17:19,365
And like they learn at University of
Georgia, Auburn University and they

1312
01:17:19,365 --> 01:17:25,035
feel strongly about, these are not bad
people, but they're, but they, they're

1313
01:17:25,035 --> 01:17:26,505
not interested in what I'm doing.

1314
01:17:26,925 --> 01:17:32,625
Uh, but now we do have people that
come here and in fact we, uh, we

1315
01:17:32,625 --> 01:17:38,025
formed a, uh, I formed a 5 0 1 3
nonprofit, meaning that is this.

1316
01:17:43,545 --> 01:17:48,105
We person to run that sessions.

1317
01:17:48,165 --> 01:17:57,585
We, we have a meeting up here that
we have classes at various, couple

1318
01:17:57,585 --> 01:18:02,385
times a month, 15 to 30 people here.

1319
01:18:02,385 --> 01:18:05,620
And we try, we teach 'em
what we, what we know.

1320
01:18:07,365 --> 01:18:11,415
And that is the Center for
Agriculture Resilience.

1321
01:18:11,745 --> 01:18:11,925
Yep.

1322
01:18:12,465 --> 01:18:13,905
Is that, is that online
or that's all here?

1323
01:18:14,655 --> 01:18:15,255
It's online.

1324
01:18:15,345 --> 01:18:16,485
It's online version as well.

1325
01:18:16,545 --> 01:18:18,885
Oh, well it has a website.

1326
01:18:18,975 --> 01:18:19,485
Yeah.

1327
01:18:19,485 --> 01:18:23,865
But, but but to, to to, to join
the curriculum and go through that.

1328
01:18:23,865 --> 01:18:25,545
It's a, it's a, it's a face-to-face.

1329
01:18:25,545 --> 01:18:25,635
Yeah.

1330
01:18:26,295 --> 01:18:27,620
I think they're looking at, um,

1331
01:18:27,975 --> 01:18:31,275
I think they're looking at
putting the curriculum online,

1332
01:18:31,635 --> 01:18:32,745
but they hadn't done it yet.

1333
01:18:32,930 --> 01:18:37,545
This is, this is not a, for a long
time, the only funding it had was me.

1334
01:18:38,205 --> 01:18:43,065
And now we get old funding from other
people since we got nonprofit status.

1335
01:18:43,065 --> 01:18:46,635
But we, we don't have a lot of money,
so we just gotta do it as we can.

1336
01:18:47,355 --> 01:18:47,445
Mm-hmm.

1337
01:18:47,445 --> 01:18:51,645
And I, and I, and you know, I, I
never intended for it to be a, uh,

1338
01:18:53,955 --> 01:18:54,795
a road show.

1339
01:18:55,785 --> 01:18:58,995
You know, I, you know, I strongly
believe that one of the things we do

1340
01:18:58,995 --> 01:19:08,985
wrong is treat every ecosystem similarly
with every ecosystem is, is very.

1341
01:19:12,230 --> 01:19:18,910
I don't, I don't want my people going
to the mountains or the ra or thes

1342
01:19:19,330 --> 01:19:22,695
or the tropics to tell how to do it.

1343
01:19:23,745 --> 01:19:27,165
If you wanna come here,
we know how to tell.

1344
01:19:28,230 --> 01:19:33,705
So I guess that's about, you know,
show them what you're doing literally,

1345
01:19:34,185 --> 01:19:39,435
and, you know, theoretically and
give them the choice to adapt

1346
01:19:40,335 --> 01:19:41,775
to this, their environment.

1347
01:19:42,525 --> 01:19:42,675
Yeah.

1348
01:19:42,675 --> 01:19:47,445
We're not, I mean, we don't try to
anybody anything we, we just give,

1349
01:19:47,450 --> 01:19:52,030
we give them the benefit of our
experience and what has worked, and

1350
01:19:52,030 --> 01:19:55,545
we don't mind telling what, what don't
work, you know, what does not work.

1351
01:19:55,690 --> 01:19:56,110
Mm-hmm.

1352
01:19:56,355 --> 01:19:57,165
Just about that.

1353
01:19:57,525 --> 01:20:00,735
Angel could ask you the question there
in the, in the, in your Jeep before,

1354
01:20:00,735 --> 01:20:08,535
and I want to go back to that, and
it was around making mistakes or, you

1355
01:20:08,535 --> 01:20:12,810
know, some people call it failures, but
I get, I get a strong sense from you.

1356
01:20:13,240 --> 01:20:17,925
What I know about you and the
conversations we've had, you know, getting

1357
01:20:17,925 --> 01:20:19,580
something wrong is not a, not a mistake.

1358
01:20:19,580 --> 01:20:20,325
It's not a failure.

1359
01:20:20,475 --> 01:20:22,605
Like what, what's your attitude to that?

1360
01:20:22,605 --> 01:20:22,695
Well,

1361
01:20:24,585 --> 01:20:28,395
the difference, a mistake and a
failure is a failure is when you

1362
01:20:28,395 --> 01:20:30,105
make a mistake and it whips your ass.

1363
01:20:30,915 --> 01:20:34,485
A mistake is you make a,
a mistake and you fix it.

1364
01:20:35,070 --> 01:20:36,960
And we've had a lot of mistakes.

1365
01:20:36,960 --> 01:20:38,970
A lot of mistakes.

1366
01:20:39,900 --> 01:20:46,380
I wouldn't had a failure because
we, you know, I think that, I think

1367
01:20:46,380 --> 01:20:50,970
one of the things we do well is
acknowledge the mistakes we make.

1368
01:20:51,570 --> 01:20:52,650
We make a lot of them.

1369
01:20:53,745 --> 01:20:53,965
And

1370
01:20:54,570 --> 01:20:59,670
it does not embarrass me one bit to
say, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa, whoa.

1371
01:20:59,670 --> 01:21:01,559
I thought that was a
good idea, but it's not.

1372
01:21:01,559 --> 01:21:02,220
Don't do quit.

1373
01:21:02,224 --> 01:21:03,180
Let's quit doing that.

1374
01:21:03,240 --> 01:21:06,120
Just what can we do to
fix what I have done?

1375
01:21:06,545 --> 01:21:07,590
And I, I did it.

1376
01:21:07,590 --> 01:21:09,245
I need you fix it.

1377
01:21:10,305 --> 01:21:10,805
And that

1378
01:21:13,710 --> 01:21:18,240
I told you earlier, it, it amazes
me how people don't wanna do that.

1379
01:21:18,780 --> 01:21:21,660
And it just doesn't, it just
doesn't bother me a bit.

1380
01:21:21,960 --> 01:21:26,370
You know, I make a, I, I'm, I'm, I'm
very bold about making decisions,

1381
01:21:26,370 --> 01:21:30,585
making changes, and I'm very, uh,

1382
01:21:34,230 --> 01:21:36,599
about the fact that some of
'em work, some of 'em don't.

1383
01:21:37,860 --> 01:21:40,080
And I know that upfront
and one, one don't work.

1384
01:21:40,080 --> 01:21:41,295
It just don't work.

1385
01:21:41,700 --> 01:21:42,840
And we're not gonna do that anymore.

1386
01:21:42,870 --> 01:21:45,990
And we gotta fix what we, we
gotta fix what, what we caused.

1387
01:21:47,125 --> 01:21:47,345
And,

1388
01:21:49,559 --> 01:21:54,300
and I, I just, I'm, I'm always
surprised when people make mistakes

1389
01:21:54,300 --> 01:21:57,205
and then want to deny it didn't work.

1390
01:21:57,915 --> 01:21:59,005
That just amazes me.

1391
01:21:59,934 --> 01:22:01,515
So is there any advice you can give?

1392
01:22:03,195 --> 01:22:04,035
I mean, you have.

1393
01:22:05,520 --> 01:22:05,610
That.

1394
01:22:07,770 --> 01:22:10,980
Um, so they're really hands
on for three months at a time.

1395
01:22:11,580 --> 01:22:16,680
You have people listening to podcasts,
you've got your book, you've got

1396
01:22:16,740 --> 01:22:21,600
the, um, center for Agricultural
Resilience, you know, what message

1397
01:22:21,600 --> 01:22:23,220
in any of that or all of that.

1398
01:22:23,340 --> 01:22:27,660
Do you tell those generally younger
people, I guess, and they don't

1399
01:22:27,660 --> 01:22:30,690
have to necessarily be young, who
are, who are wanting to change,

1400
01:22:30,690 --> 01:22:34,740
is there any sort of messages you
have for them about, you know, that

1401
01:22:34,740 --> 01:22:38,670
failure mistake kind of concept?

1402
01:22:38,995 --> 01:22:39,285
Yeah.

1403
01:22:39,785 --> 01:22:44,100
Uh, just talk mostly well
about all those people really.

1404
01:22:44,100 --> 01:22:47,400
But the, the interns that come here,
one of the things that I drive home to

1405
01:22:47,400 --> 01:22:52,830
them is, you know, there are, I, I tell
'em there are three legs on the stool.

1406
01:22:54,300 --> 01:22:58,770
There's production out here in the
field, and that's the fun part.

1407
01:22:59,400 --> 01:23:00,420
That's what we all wanna do.

1408
01:23:00,825 --> 01:23:05,490
And then there's processing,
which is making it marketable.

1409
01:23:06,420 --> 01:23:09,150
And then there's marketing,
which is monetizing.

1410
01:23:10,560 --> 01:23:15,930
And a mistake I see so many
people make is they fall in love

1411
01:23:16,800 --> 01:23:18,840
with the production side of it.

1412
01:23:18,840 --> 01:23:24,480
It's, it's, it's hard not to fall in
love with the cycles of nature operating

1413
01:23:24,480 --> 01:23:26,640
optimally, producing on the boomers.

1414
01:23:26,820 --> 01:23:34,320
That's good stuff and it's fun, but
people don't, consumers don't buy.

1415
01:23:34,785 --> 01:23:39,105
Hogs and cows and sheep, they,
they buy beef and pork and lamb.

1416
01:23:41,460 --> 01:23:41,750
Lamb,

1417
01:23:43,485 --> 01:23:43,964
I love it.

1418
01:23:43,964 --> 01:23:45,585
And they're not going to buy.

1419
01:23:46,005 --> 01:23:52,094
But so many tomatoes not, but so
many carrots and all these things

1420
01:23:52,094 --> 01:23:57,165
that we produce in these wonderfully
operating ecosystems that we developed,

1421
01:23:57,825 --> 01:24:00,285
it's gotta be made marketable.

1422
01:24:01,335 --> 01:24:05,325
And then after you make it marketable,
you gotta find that market.

1423
01:24:06,554 --> 01:24:09,434
And I told you, this is the
poorest county in, in the country.

1424
01:24:10,394 --> 01:24:16,964
I don't sell much in this
county except to my employees.

1425
01:24:16,964 --> 01:24:19,275
And they, they, they
get it for half price.

1426
01:24:20,144 --> 01:24:25,844
So, you know, I, I would, I would go
broke if all I did was produce and

1427
01:24:25,844 --> 01:24:28,755
sell here, I'd go broke quick, quickly.

1428
01:24:28,759 --> 01:24:28,940
Quickly.

1429
01:24:31,065 --> 01:24:35,219
So finding those markets that
will pay my cost of operation

1430
01:24:36,000 --> 01:24:36,219
is

1431
01:24:36,830 --> 01:24:37,900
three days on the stool.

1432
01:24:39,519 --> 01:24:40,099
That's great.

1433
01:24:40,245 --> 01:24:40,934
I love that.

1434
01:24:41,474 --> 01:24:44,985
That's so that's, you know,
it's so simple, isn't it?

1435
01:24:45,795 --> 01:24:45,925
You know,

1436
01:24:46,389 --> 01:24:47,219
thing pretty simple.

1437
01:24:47,410 --> 01:24:47,700
Yeah.

1438
01:24:49,120 --> 01:24:49,540
That's

1439
01:24:52,160 --> 01:24:53,500
not being a linear,

1440
01:24:55,780 --> 01:24:59,219
I, I don't see much if this, if this
wasn't simple, I couldn't do it.

1441
01:25:00,639 --> 01:25:03,075
But the, not the irony, but
the interesting thing is.

1442
01:25:03,705 --> 01:25:08,805
You know, you are running, I'm, I'm gonna,
well, a simple business, I mean, there's

1443
01:25:08,805 --> 01:25:14,715
complexity, actually, let's talk about
that complexity versus complication.

1444
01:25:15,945 --> 01:25:16,935
Can we talk about that?

1445
01:25:17,445 --> 01:25:18,255
Because there's a difference, right?

1446
01:25:18,260 --> 01:25:18,630
Mm-hmm.

1447
01:25:20,450 --> 01:25:25,125
You, it's, and I think, I think it kind of
gets back to that linear versus cyclical.

1448
01:25:25,125 --> 01:25:25,990
You know, a,

1449
01:25:28,035 --> 01:25:31,725
a complex business is very cyclical.

1450
01:25:33,285 --> 01:25:38,325
A linear business is very
complex, complicated.

1451
01:25:41,110 --> 01:25:42,675
And I think that

1452
01:25:44,925 --> 01:25:50,775
whatever business you're endeavoring
to operate, you gotta figure it out.

1453
01:25:50,925 --> 01:25:51,915
You gotta figure out

1454
01:25:53,925 --> 01:25:55,035
what approach to take.

1455
01:25:55,785 --> 01:26:00,045
And if you, if you were operating
a manufacturing plant, automobile

1456
01:26:00,045 --> 01:26:05,475
manufacturing plant with steel parts
coming in one end and automobiles

1457
01:26:05,475 --> 01:26:14,205
coming out end, that is highly
complicated and highly scalable.

1458
01:26:15,430 --> 01:26:17,925
And, and on and on, uh,

1459
01:26:18,200 --> 01:26:20,920
compared to a farm, which is yang.

1460
01:26:23,445 --> 01:26:27,405
And there's also a difference between
scalable and repeatable, right?

1461
01:26:29,415 --> 01:26:29,775
Yeah.

1462
01:26:30,795 --> 01:26:35,595
So, uh, what we do here
is not highly scalable.

1463
01:26:36,615 --> 01:26:37,875
It's highly replicatable.

1464
01:26:37,905 --> 01:26:37,965
Yeah.

1465
01:26:38,985 --> 01:26:41,175
There could be a lot
of white oak pastures.

1466
01:26:41,175 --> 01:26:46,035
And I really, my my hope was that there
would be a lot of white oak pastures.

1467
01:26:47,805 --> 01:26:53,415
Uh, and then from a scalability
perspective, we're, we're bigger

1468
01:26:53,415 --> 01:26:55,335
than I ever thought we would be.

1469
01:26:56,355 --> 01:27:00,315
And we're probably bigger than I wanna be.

1470
01:27:01,485 --> 01:27:04,815
Um, things get things happen.

1471
01:27:05,475 --> 01:27:11,655
And when I had to, when, when I ran
out processing capacity 20 years ago

1472
01:27:13,605 --> 01:27:18,675
for my cattle and had to go to the bank
and borrow $3 million and fill that

1473
01:27:18,885 --> 01:27:26,684
processing plant that I showed you,
you know, I, I, I had to scale up to 20

1474
01:27:26,684 --> 01:27:33,225
something million because I had to kill
that many cattle so I could service my

1475
01:27:33,225 --> 01:27:34,965
debt so I could make my business work.

1476
01:27:36,045 --> 01:27:44,025
That, that that was not best case, you
know, best case would be, uh, a co-op.

1477
01:27:44,894 --> 01:27:49,485
I'm, I'm not really a, basically a
co-op guy, but I do recognize ability.

1478
01:27:49,485 --> 01:27:51,915
I do see probably can work well.

1479
01:27:52,990 --> 01:27:53,210
Uh.

1480
01:27:57,059 --> 01:28:04,559
Deciding to, to take on that processing
function for a group of farmers.

1481
01:28:04,559 --> 01:28:07,080
That, which is what I would prefer to see.

1482
01:28:07,080 --> 01:28:14,129
There are a few of those in this country,
and I would've been a happier camper

1483
01:28:14,219 --> 01:28:19,620
the last 25 years, 20 years if I had
not had to build that processing plant.

1484
01:28:20,250 --> 01:28:24,360
It, it's still be part of my
business that I enjoy the least.

1485
01:28:26,129 --> 01:28:34,980
I love what going in the, uh, processing,
you know, it's, it's highly regulated.

1486
01:28:36,480 --> 01:28:42,629
Uh, know, and I, I I, we do, and I'll
say this, I do as little live as I can.

1487
01:28:42,780 --> 01:28:48,450
I got some really good people running
that plant and they are not micromanaged.

1488
01:28:49,110 --> 01:28:49,469
Sure.

1489
01:28:49,469 --> 01:28:52,320
You, uh, they do a good job.

1490
01:28:52,320 --> 01:28:52,349
Uh,

1491
01:28:53,070 --> 01:28:57,929
it's also, as you said, it's essential
now for your business to value add, you

1492
01:28:57,929 --> 01:29:03,240
gotta that point where you either had to,
you might have said it yesterday or today.

1493
01:29:03,480 --> 01:29:05,700
You gotta that point where
you had to like, shut it all

1494
01:29:05,700 --> 01:29:07,559
down or go that next step.

1495
01:29:07,584 --> 01:29:09,990
You know, you had to
get big or get Well, I

1496
01:29:09,990 --> 01:29:14,040
started transitioning the farm from
the industrial model to, to this model.

1497
01:29:15,450 --> 01:29:18,839
I never intended to, to
build a processing plant.

1498
01:29:19,349 --> 01:29:23,370
I started out using the excess capacity.

1499
01:29:24,465 --> 01:29:31,094
A few very small processes had here,
you know, two cows here, one cow there,

1500
01:29:31,094 --> 01:29:38,384
three cows over, and there was a market
for the product and it was working okay.

1501
01:29:39,134 --> 01:29:45,825
What they were charging me was okay, it
was all fine, but they could not do enough

1502
01:29:45,825 --> 01:29:49,905
volume for me to make my business work.

1503
01:29:50,325 --> 01:29:55,275
I was, I was losing money because
I, I, they weren't doing enough.

1504
01:29:56,505 --> 01:29:58,755
I'd given up selling in
the commodity market.

1505
01:29:58,844 --> 01:30:01,155
I couldn't sell enough
through their market.

1506
01:30:01,394 --> 01:30:04,530
And this is in 2006, was it?

1507
01:30:04,530 --> 01:30:04,650
When,

1508
01:30:04,650 --> 01:30:05,450
when, yeah.

1509
01:30:06,469 --> 01:30:08,655
2 26 is when that was happening.

1510
01:30:08,660 --> 01:30:09,795
Yeah, yeah, yeah.

1511
01:30:10,275 --> 01:30:19,695
And we, uh, uh, I tried really hard to
not build a processing plant, uh, offer.

1512
01:30:19,695 --> 01:30:22,394
I made these other local

1513
01:30:25,634 --> 01:30:27,769
I their.

1514
01:30:33,270 --> 01:30:34,380
They just didn't wanna do it.

1515
01:30:34,380 --> 01:30:36,715
And, and, and I didn't blame them.

1516
01:30:36,810 --> 01:30:42,480
I mean, I, they, they, me, most of
'em, were older people or, or not

1517
01:30:42,480 --> 01:30:47,280
in real good shape financially or
had some of a restriction on them.

1518
01:30:48,780 --> 01:30:53,970
So, uh, ultimately that I tried a lot of
different things to not build a processing

1519
01:30:53,970 --> 01:30:55,345
plant, but ultimately I built it.

1520
01:30:55,805 --> 01:30:56,025
Uh,

1521
01:30:58,395 --> 01:31:06,360
uh, a group of farmers about two
hours from here were, uh, having

1522
01:31:06,630 --> 01:31:10,505
organizational meetings to build a plant
owned by a lot of different farmers.

1523
01:31:12,085 --> 01:31:15,390
And I was pretty deep in the grass
fed beef business by that time,

1524
01:31:15,840 --> 01:31:19,170
and most of them hadn't been in it,
but they thought it was a good idea

1525
01:31:21,030 --> 01:31:22,530
and I really wanted that to work.

1526
01:31:22,530 --> 01:31:28,440
So I went to a, an organizational meeting
one night, uh, college auditorium, a

1527
01:31:28,440 --> 01:31:30,330
high school auditorium in that time.

1528
01:31:31,500 --> 01:31:36,360
And by the time the meeting started, I
knew it was a non hint, you know, the,

1529
01:31:36,750 --> 01:31:42,150
uh, I, I heard farmers, I didn't even
know say, well, I ain't gonna do it if

1530
01:31:42,150 --> 01:31:44,340
I can't get X dollars ahead from my cow.

1531
01:31:47,245 --> 01:31:48,575
Well, you ain't gonna get that.

1532
01:31:50,190 --> 01:31:53,430
Or, or I don't think we
ought to hire a manager.

1533
01:31:53,430 --> 01:31:56,340
I think we ought to all just
run it take turns or, and

1534
01:31:56,340 --> 01:31:58,860
just all kind of things that.

1535
01:32:00,250 --> 01:32:01,010
I knew it wasn't gonna work.

1536
01:32:01,010 --> 01:32:01,410
Mm-hmm.

1537
01:32:01,670 --> 01:32:06,555
And so I, when the meeting started, I, I
there about five minutes and I, I left.

1538
01:32:06,645 --> 01:32:10,875
And then on the way home, that two hour
drive is when I decided I was gonna

1539
01:32:11,085 --> 01:32:18,135
build a plant because I, because I either
had to build the plant or go back to

1540
01:32:18,135 --> 01:32:21,195
operating as an industrial commodity.

1541
01:32:22,155 --> 01:32:24,525
And I, and I hope most
people don't have to do that.

1542
01:32:24,590 --> 01:32:25,750
I hope they don't have to build that.

1543
01:32:27,135 --> 01:32:32,085
So what about, um,
replicating in another state?

1544
01:32:32,085 --> 01:32:36,885
'cause one question that came through
was, you know, will you, could you

1545
01:32:38,745 --> 01:32:42,915
set something up in another state,
you know, well, another county Yeah.

1546
01:32:42,915 --> 01:32:47,025
Far, like geographically, like a
sensible whatever that is, distance

1547
01:32:47,025 --> 01:32:49,245
from here and replicate it there.

1548
01:32:49,575 --> 01:32:50,570
Is that something you'd do?

1549
01:32:50,970 --> 01:32:52,290
I wouldn't, I mean, I wouldn't do it.

1550
01:32:52,370 --> 01:32:53,330
I mean, I think that somebody

1551
01:32:54,195 --> 01:32:55,995
You wouldn't do it because
you've got enough should to do.

1552
01:32:56,205 --> 01:32:56,505
Yeah.

1553
01:32:56,895 --> 01:33:00,105
I'm not, I'm not interested, but
I, but somebody needs to do it.

1554
01:33:00,705 --> 01:33:07,065
Uh, I think, I think what we've done
here is highly replicable and it's

1555
01:33:07,065 --> 01:33:10,425
gonna gonna be just like this one
because it's gotta fit a different

1556
01:33:10,425 --> 01:33:13,665
set of economic circumstances
and production circumstances.

1557
01:33:13,665 --> 01:33:15,165
But it's highly replicable.

1558
01:33:15,495 --> 01:33:21,765
And, and one thing, part of what our
nonprofit, CFAR Center for you mentioned

1559
01:33:21,765 --> 01:33:27,285
Center for our Agricultural Resilience
does is, is helps people understand.

1560
01:33:29,559 --> 01:33:29,910
Needs.

1561
01:33:31,155 --> 01:33:33,405
Well, I mean, you, I
guess if they, you have,

1562
01:33:35,504 --> 01:33:39,525
would it be fair to say you, you
teach some principles when you

1563
01:33:39,525 --> 01:33:43,155
teach what you do here, are there,
is there a principle based kind of

1564
01:33:43,155 --> 01:33:46,934
a program that people can adapt?

1565
01:33:47,235 --> 01:33:50,025
You know, because that's, that's,
that's all, that's also, that's

1566
01:33:50,025 --> 01:33:52,785
often the, the, the issue, isn't it?

1567
01:33:52,785 --> 01:33:55,275
People go, oh, I'm gonna do what
will Harris does and I'm gonna

1568
01:33:55,275 --> 01:33:58,394
be in Montana and I'm just gonna
do this, I'm gonna do that.

1569
01:33:58,394 --> 01:33:59,490
And it's just not gonna work.

1570
01:34:00,915 --> 01:34:03,884
Like, is there, I guess it's
all key in our responsibility.

1571
01:34:03,884 --> 01:34:03,945
Yeah.

1572
01:34:03,945 --> 01:34:03,974
I,

1573
01:34:04,570 --> 01:34:11,295
I think there's, I think there's,
while every, every operation will

1574
01:34:11,295 --> 01:34:18,434
vary dramatically based on geography
and economy and market and other

1575
01:34:18,434 --> 01:34:24,915
circumstances, there's a lot to be
learned by, uh, spending some time with

1576
01:34:24,915 --> 01:34:29,099
somebody who's got a program that's
working you, you're gonna find some

1577
01:34:29,099 --> 01:34:32,745
things that you like, that you wanna
implement, and you're gonna find some

1578
01:34:32,894 --> 01:34:34,620
things that you sure don't wanna do that.

1579
01:34:36,495 --> 01:34:40,304
Um, so I mean, it's, it's highly.

1580
01:34:43,070 --> 01:34:43,575
I think that

1581
01:34:46,785 --> 01:34:52,365
if we could possibly get a lot
of these started very beneficial.

1582
01:34:53,790 --> 01:34:58,585
And the economy, certainly the
economy, but I think they're

1583
01:34:58,600 --> 01:35:01,005
look very, very different.

1584
01:35:01,245 --> 01:35:06,045
And I think that, uh, you
know, we ta taking the, uh,

1585
01:35:08,625 --> 01:35:13,065
dollar store, build one on
every corner, just alike.

1586
01:35:14,955 --> 01:35:15,765
Starbucks.

1587
01:35:16,110 --> 01:35:18,555
No, it's, it's not gonna be like that.

1588
01:35:18,585 --> 01:35:19,425
It's not that model.

1589
01:35:19,815 --> 01:35:24,675
Talking about business, have you got
any general business advice for, I

1590
01:35:24,675 --> 01:35:29,505
mean, you know, let's not even think
necessarily agricultural, but is there

1591
01:35:29,505 --> 01:35:34,845
some sound business principles that
you have developed, you've picked up,

1592
01:35:34,875 --> 01:35:39,885
you've adopted or adapted that you could
pass on to people, you know, is there

1593
01:35:39,885 --> 01:35:44,895
any habits, any rituals in terms of a
business approach that you could pass on?

1594
01:35:47,295 --> 01:35:52,605
I think I'm probably not the person
that I can tell you what may be the

1595
01:35:52,605 --> 01:35:54,795
benefit of what I've learned in myself.

1596
01:35:56,895 --> 01:36:01,635
You know, I don't think I'm a, I don't
think I'm a really good businessman.

1597
01:36:05,085 --> 01:36:07,815
I kind of disdain cash.

1598
01:36:08,505 --> 01:36:09,610
You know, I, you know, I

1599
01:36:09,974 --> 01:36:10,724
explain, I, you know,

1600
01:36:10,905 --> 01:36:11,205
uh,

1601
01:36:13,995 --> 01:36:18,135
so I, you know, I, I need enough
blood pump through my body

1602
01:36:18,285 --> 01:36:20,415
to make my, my organs work.

1603
01:36:20,894 --> 01:36:25,425
I don't want extra five gallons of blood
that go over here in case I need it.

1604
01:36:26,805 --> 01:36:30,014
And I realized it's not a good
analogy, but I, I treat money that

1605
01:36:30,014 --> 01:36:35,415
way, and I need a certain amount
of money able to pay my bills every

1606
01:36:35,415 --> 01:36:41,920
Friday, pay employees, owe, bills,

1607
01:36:45,000 --> 01:36:45,220
owe.

1608
01:36:47,655 --> 01:36:50,655
But if there's any extra money,
I'm, I'm sort of looking for

1609
01:36:50,655 --> 01:36:52,394
something else to do with it.

1610
01:36:53,535 --> 01:36:57,974
And, uh, that has been good.

1611
01:36:58,724 --> 01:37:01,514
And it's also been bad
for us in some ways.

1612
01:37:01,514 --> 01:37:06,105
So, uh, interesting.

1613
01:37:06,105 --> 01:37:11,970
So my, the rest of my management
staff are, are young people, young,

1614
01:37:12,615 --> 01:37:18,530
twenties, thirties, and, uh, once a
week around this table right here.

1615
01:37:19,580 --> 01:37:23,200
And I, I tell you what I, we ought do.

1616
01:37:27,210 --> 01:37:31,910
My dog say, oh shit, daddy,
we're not gonna do that, are we?

1617
01:37:33,000 --> 01:37:35,970
And it's, it's interesting to me
because I'm nearly 70 and they're

1618
01:37:35,970 --> 01:37:41,430
30 in the thirties, and I always
have thought that it was, the young

1619
01:37:41,430 --> 01:37:46,615
generation had to be kept back and the,
the old man had to be drug followed.

1620
01:37:47,005 --> 01:37:48,375
It's kind of the opposite here.

1621
01:37:48,715 --> 01:37:50,850
So that's, and they're right a lot.

1622
01:37:51,180 --> 01:37:51,780
Lemme say this.

1623
01:37:51,990 --> 01:37:52,110
Yeah.

1624
01:37:54,060 --> 01:37:57,810
I've gone into a number of
businesses part as part of the

1625
01:37:57,810 --> 01:37:59,640
farm that didn't work out well.

1626
01:37:59,640 --> 01:38:04,020
I, you, you know, you know, producing
black soldier flies and I think

1627
01:38:04,020 --> 01:38:05,850
that can work, but it didn't work.

1628
01:38:06,840 --> 01:38:09,180
I'm, I'm still not flu with
it, but I spent a lot of

1629
01:38:09,180 --> 01:38:10,740
money and it, it didn't work.

1630
01:38:10,740 --> 01:38:10,830
And

1631
01:38:12,075 --> 01:38:15,745
other things, you know, that
we, I thought was a good idea.

1632
01:38:16,685 --> 01:38:16,905
So

1633
01:38:17,405 --> 01:38:24,000
do you think that's you, or it's their
generation, are they not standing up?

1634
01:38:24,030 --> 01:38:26,940
This is not a criticism of anyone
or anything, it's just the dynamics.

1635
01:38:27,480 --> 01:38:28,080
You are the bot.

1636
01:38:28,110 --> 01:38:30,570
Well, I guess, you know, they've
got a lot of respect for you and

1637
01:38:30,570 --> 01:38:37,260
you are the, the, um, uh, the
patron, you know, you are the I

1638
01:38:37,260 --> 01:38:38,235
own a hundred percent of the company.

1639
01:38:38,970 --> 01:38:39,480
Say again?

1640
01:38:39,540 --> 01:38:40,800
I own a hundred percent of the company.

1641
01:38:40,920 --> 01:38:41,370
Yeah.

1642
01:38:41,430 --> 01:38:42,750
So, well you're that as well.

1643
01:38:42,750 --> 01:38:48,570
So you make, I guess you ultimately
make decisions, but you also the, um.

1644
01:38:49,515 --> 01:38:56,565
Uh, patriarch of the business, do
you think they just give you that

1645
01:38:56,565 --> 01:38:58,785
opportunity because you are the boss?

1646
01:38:59,265 --> 01:39:05,355
Or is it, is it to do with age
and, and not being, you know,

1647
01:39:05,685 --> 01:39:06,975
is it a generational thing?

1648
01:39:07,035 --> 01:39:09,080
Uh, you may not know the answer
because I, I certainly did.

1649
01:39:09,280 --> 01:39:09,400
I

1650
01:39:09,400 --> 01:39:15,435
dunno if this answer or not, but I, my
response would be, um, I'm glad I got

1651
01:39:15,435 --> 01:39:19,635
'em because I think they keep me from
doing things that might not be the best.

1652
01:39:19,635 --> 01:39:26,595
I think that, uh, this, this has served
me well and not well, but I, I tend to

1653
01:39:26,595 --> 01:39:32,655
see all the reasons that it'll work and
ignore the reasons it won't work, whatever

1654
01:39:32,655 --> 01:39:40,755
the project is, and that is, uh, that
will, that will, uh, really propel you to

1655
01:39:40,755 --> 01:39:46,545
doing some, some different kinds of things
that can also propel you into a problem.

1656
01:39:46,935 --> 01:39:49,815
And, and it me both ways.

1657
01:39:49,935 --> 01:39:54,135
But I guess that's like, you gotta
have the yin and the yang, haven't it?

1658
01:39:54,135 --> 01:39:55,305
You gotta have like the Yeah.

1659
01:39:55,395 --> 01:39:58,845
Whether it's you or someone else who's
going, we should do this and do that.

1660
01:39:58,845 --> 01:40:01,275
And you've got the black hats, you've got
the green hats, yellow, I can't remember

1661
01:40:01,335 --> 01:40:04,845
who was which, but in that six hats
thinking, you know, that kind of thing.

1662
01:40:04,845 --> 01:40:04,965
Yeah.

1663
01:40:05,175 --> 01:40:06,045
It's a, it's a healthy dynamic.

1664
01:40:06,050 --> 01:40:06,700
It, it is.

1665
01:40:06,700 --> 01:40:07,580
And I'm glad we got it.

1666
01:40:07,800 --> 01:40:10,905
That's the reason I set it up and
I didn't have it for a long time.

1667
01:40:10,905 --> 01:40:12,765
And, uh, I should tell you this,

1668
01:40:14,835 --> 01:40:15,740
think I this off.

1669
01:40:19,245 --> 01:40:26,895
If I started, if I, if I started today,
if I, if I continued to stay a industrial

1670
01:40:26,895 --> 01:40:33,015
commodity cow guy, monocultural cow
guy, and I started today making the

1671
01:40:33,015 --> 01:40:36,225
changes to do what I did 25 years ago.

1672
01:40:36,640 --> 01:40:47,110
I think I failed dis that I think that
the success we enjoyed, uh, was, was,

1673
01:40:47,960 --> 01:40:56,025
was a window of opportunity that we
just absolutely fortunately fell in.

1674
01:40:56,025 --> 01:40:59,955
I, I didn't, I love tell you, I
saw it coming and I planned it

1675
01:40:59,955 --> 01:41:01,425
and it was brilliant on my part.

1676
01:41:01,425 --> 01:41:02,295
It was not.

1677
01:41:03,705 --> 01:41:08,145
I built the, i, I, I did what it
did for the reasons I told you.

1678
01:41:09,075 --> 01:41:15,075
And, uh, uh, I built, I built the
slaughter plant to process 50 head a week.

1679
01:41:15,315 --> 01:41:15,780
That was my go.

1680
01:41:18,200 --> 01:41:23,295
And, uh, and I don't, I, why I thought
that was the right number, but I did, I

1681
01:41:23,295 --> 01:41:27,075
thought, I think I thought I could get to
that level of production on my own without

1682
01:41:27,855 --> 01:41:30,015
any cows from anybody else at some point.

1683
01:41:30,015 --> 01:41:30,735
And that's where I wanted.

1684
01:41:33,195 --> 01:41:38,330
So I built it, I spent two point, I

1685
01:41:41,205 --> 01:41:43,575
wouldn't work 50 head a week.

1686
01:41:44,205 --> 01:41:45,345
I, I losing money.

1687
01:41:46,745 --> 01:41:52,800
So spent another 7,000 getting about
3 million and it doubled the capacity.

1688
01:41:53,700 --> 01:42:00,975
So happened that we some things
and uh, and it started making

1689
01:42:05,515 --> 01:42:05,735
and,

1690
01:42:08,145 --> 01:42:10,920
and, uh, so I, I

1691
01:42:10,920 --> 01:42:12,450
was producing that level of stuff

1692
01:42:12,450 --> 01:42:12,540
and,

1693
01:42:14,010 --> 01:42:18,240
and I was able to sell
it to Whole Foods Market.

1694
01:42:18,810 --> 01:42:19,980
This is, this is the
part that's fortunate.

1695
01:42:21,120 --> 01:42:25,650
I was able to sell a hundred a week
wholesale to Whole Foods Market in

1696
01:42:25,650 --> 01:42:29,340
Publix, and I sold Whole Foods Market.

1697
01:42:29,340 --> 01:42:33,870
This is the part about the time I sold
Whole Foods Markets in public, the first

1698
01:42:33,870 --> 01:42:39,240
pound of American grass fed beef that
they marketed as American grass fed beef.

1699
01:42:40,110 --> 01:42:44,340
And had that not, had that opportunity not
presented itself, it wouldn't have worked.

1700
01:42:45,630 --> 01:42:50,940
So that was just pure look
and I'm grateful for it,

1701
01:42:51,660 --> 01:42:52,980
but we gotta acknowledge it.

1702
01:42:53,735 --> 01:42:59,430
And, uh, and we, we operated successfully
as a wholesale, grass fed beef

1703
01:42:59,430 --> 01:43:04,470
producer and had a really good return
on investment and did really well.

1704
01:43:05,790 --> 01:43:07,170
But, but it changed.

1705
01:43:09,540 --> 01:43:11,759
Thousand 15

1706
01:43:14,009 --> 01:43:17,910
US changed the rule for product of the SA

1707
01:43:20,009 --> 01:43:21,030
prior to 15,

1708
01:43:23,160 --> 01:43:28,469
uh, for beef to be labeled product
of the USA, the cow had to be born,

1709
01:43:28,469 --> 01:43:32,370
raised, slaughtered in the United
States, in, in the 50 states.

1710
01:43:34,019 --> 01:43:36,929
And in 2015 they changed that rule.

1711
01:43:36,959 --> 01:43:40,799
My bet is it was big meat
that promoted that change.

1712
01:43:40,830 --> 01:43:44,549
But they, I dunno how that happened,
but they changed it so that if

1713
01:43:44,549 --> 01:43:48,540
value was added in this country,
it was a product of the usa.

1714
01:43:49,530 --> 01:43:52,980
So suddenly, no, not suddenly,
it didn't happen suddenly.

1715
01:43:52,980 --> 01:44:01,379
But over the next few years, the
door opened and beef from Australia,

1716
01:44:01,559 --> 01:44:07,620
New Zealand, Uruguay, 20 something
other countries, uh, came into

1717
01:44:07,620 --> 01:44:09,599
this country as product of the usa.

1718
01:44:10,709 --> 01:44:15,000
Now, I'm not jealous of other
countries being able to import

1719
01:44:15,000 --> 01:44:16,440
product into this country.

1720
01:44:16,500 --> 01:44:17,219
I think it's fine.

1721
01:44:17,730 --> 01:44:22,769
I'm a, I'm a free trade kind of
guy, but let's be, let's be very

1722
01:44:22,769 --> 01:44:24,179
honest about where it came from.

1723
01:44:24,450 --> 01:44:28,504
Let's don't say product of the
usa, let's just say product of

1724
01:44:28,785 --> 01:44:31,049
whatever and that the consumers use.

1725
01:44:32,700 --> 01:44:33,540
But when that happened.

1726
01:44:34,410 --> 01:44:38,430
For some reason, they're able to produce
it cheaper in these other countries.

1727
01:44:38,430 --> 01:44:42,840
Or maybe it's just the ability of big meat
to shop it at the cheapest place that day.

1728
01:44:43,860 --> 01:44:47,220
But my margins failed dramatically.

1729
01:44:48,150 --> 01:44:51,195
And I, I, I didn't know if we were gonna
be able to stay in business or not.

1730
01:44:52,525 --> 01:44:57,185
The pandemic hit and my daughter
started the, or fulfillment

1731
01:44:57,185 --> 01:45:03,060
center direct to online marketing,
and that brought us back up.

1732
01:45:03,175 --> 01:45:03,395
We,

1733
01:45:03,665 --> 01:45:05,395
well, that was in the 2020

1734
01:45:05,995 --> 01:45:06,155
pandemic.

1735
01:45:06,305 --> 01:45:06,595
Yeah.

1736
01:45:06,595 --> 01:45:06,995
Really?

1737
01:45:07,200 --> 01:45:13,020
We, we, she actually had, uh, had
started the online store before

1738
01:45:13,020 --> 01:45:14,715
that, but it wasn't doing anything.

1739
01:45:15,840 --> 01:45:22,380
But when the, uh, and I make a mistake
when the, when the pandemic hit, uh, we

1740
01:45:22,380 --> 01:45:27,150
sold out of like my overnight in a week.

1741
01:45:29,235 --> 01:45:34,860
And in retrospect, I should have cut
off all my wholesale customers and

1742
01:45:34,860 --> 01:45:37,710
satisfied all my online customers.

1743
01:45:38,675 --> 01:45:41,790
And, and I didn't do, I didn't
stay with the wholesale customers,

1744
01:45:42,155 --> 01:45:44,340
any, any kind of loyalty.

1745
01:45:44,495 --> 01:45:46,410
I, I just didn't think it was thing to

1746
01:45:46,410 --> 01:45:46,470
do.

1747
01:45:46,800 --> 01:45:47,100
But

1748
01:45:47,130 --> 01:45:48,780
in retrospect, it would've been,

1749
01:45:53,580 --> 01:45:54,270
um.

1750
01:45:54,929 --> 01:45:56,549
But what a crazy time.

1751
01:45:56,759 --> 01:45:59,429
I mean, what a what a what a crazy time.

1752
01:45:59,429 --> 01:46:02,759
And what an opportunity though, you
know, like at that point like that.

1753
01:46:02,759 --> 01:46:04,799
And that's, that the similar
thing happened in Australia.

1754
01:46:04,799 --> 01:46:08,190
There were some businesses that all
the businesses went under, but the

1755
01:46:08,190 --> 01:46:11,160
circumstance for other businesses
was like the golden opportunity,

1756
01:46:11,160 --> 01:46:12,330
because people couldn't travel.

1757
01:46:12,330 --> 01:46:12,839
You know, they had to

1758
01:46:13,924 --> 01:46:16,205
same here and would be adapted.

1759
01:46:16,259 --> 01:46:17,519
And now we're responding to it.

1760
01:46:17,549 --> 01:46:23,044
You saw, we were building a, uh, we
spending about 2 million building a, a,

1761
01:46:23,610 --> 01:46:31,650
a freezer when I, as the online business,
frozen product, the grocery fresh

1762
01:46:31,650 --> 01:46:34,139
product, and I got a tiny little freezer.

1763
01:46:34,709 --> 01:46:37,559
So now we're building a big
freezer so we can accommodate that.

1764
01:46:38,400 --> 01:46:39,690
We're making some other changes.

1765
01:46:39,690 --> 01:46:48,599
We, uh, uh, I, I, I mentioned the size
of the plant and the, the size the

1766
01:46:48,599 --> 01:46:54,000
plant wound up being was a, was the
right size, but we've outgrown it now.

1767
01:46:55,469 --> 01:46:55,950
Uh,

1768
01:46:56,429 --> 01:47:00,690
in 2012

1769
01:47:01,259 --> 01:47:07,530
or so, I built a poul plant
and I, I made a mistake in it.

1770
01:47:07,530 --> 01:47:09,150
I overbuilt it.

1771
01:47:09,745 --> 01:47:18,084
I, I misread the, uh, market and how
much, uh, pasture tow truck could sell.

1772
01:47:19,184 --> 01:47:25,005
So it has not been a good investment
for us, but now we're re gonna spend

1773
01:47:26,445 --> 01:47:29,655
million or so dollars, uh, converting it.

1774
01:47:30,585 --> 01:47:36,014
So I can still process poultry, but
I can also process hogs and sheep

1775
01:47:36,019 --> 01:47:41,474
and case, and that'll take pressure
off my red, red meat plant, so

1776
01:47:41,474 --> 01:47:42,974
it'll become just a cattle plant.

1777
01:47:43,815 --> 01:47:50,625
So, uh, I I think that's gonna be a,
uh, a much better operation for us.

1778
01:47:50,865 --> 01:47:52,905
It's following the
evolution of the market.

1779
01:47:53,745 --> 01:47:56,175
I mean, the good news is
you've actually got two plants.

1780
01:47:57,045 --> 01:48:03,285
You, you can, you can adapt the, the, the
cattle one with some freezing, you know,

1781
01:48:03,285 --> 01:48:06,974
gets a bit more money and the poultry,
you can now adapt to small species.

1782
01:48:07,155 --> 01:48:07,575
I mean, that's,

1783
01:48:08,715 --> 01:48:09,285
that's cool.

1784
01:48:09,340 --> 01:48:09,630
Yeah.

1785
01:48:09,945 --> 01:48:10,094
Yeah.

1786
01:48:10,094 --> 01:48:13,094
I'm, I'm very pleased
that that worked out.

1787
01:48:13,184 --> 01:48:13,469
That worked.

1788
01:48:13,690 --> 01:48:18,810
And I mean, we gotta, we gotta see it
and, and oh yeah, that's, that's another

1789
01:48:19,425 --> 01:48:22,634
3 million in expense in, uh, investment.

1790
01:48:23,655 --> 01:48:24,075
Uh,

1791
01:48:24,610 --> 01:48:29,280
but, but I guess with some, you
know, numbers and forecasting and,

1792
01:48:29,820 --> 01:48:34,425
you know, let's, I, I can imagine
demands not gonna go backwards, you

1793
01:48:34,425 --> 01:48:36,080
know, unless knows what happens.

1794
01:48:36,380 --> 01:48:39,134
You know, I'm, I'm, I'm pretty sure
it's gonna work, but don't forget,

1795
01:48:39,134 --> 01:48:42,559
I'm the guy that sees all the, I
see all the res things gonna work.

1796
01:48:42,990 --> 01:48:43,280
Yeah.

1797
01:48:43,280 --> 01:48:44,295
You're paying the bills.

1798
01:48:46,049 --> 01:48:46,309
You know,

1799
01:48:46,900 --> 01:48:51,434
well, I'm, I'm the, I'm the
optimistic guy in our organization.

1800
01:48:51,434 --> 01:48:55,334
I'm, one says again, I see
all the reasons why it work.

1801
01:48:56,235 --> 01:48:57,735
I don't see any of the
reason why it won't work.

1802
01:48:58,695 --> 01:49:03,584
I recognize that, and that's the
reason when my, the rest of my staff

1803
01:49:03,584 --> 01:49:08,565
speak up with, uh, uh, obstruction.

1804
01:49:08,684 --> 01:49:10,785
You, your, I listen to it.

1805
01:49:11,504 --> 01:49:14,535
I was gonna say to you, does that
piss you off or is that you, I guess

1806
01:49:14,745 --> 01:49:17,865
I'd imagine you respect it and you
go, well, you know, that's, it's the,

1807
01:49:19,879 --> 01:49:20,169
yeah.

1808
01:49:20,169 --> 01:49:20,450
Yeah.

1809
01:49:22,070 --> 01:49:29,714
And also, you know, I'm, I'm almost 70
years old and, uh, there are a lot of, not

1810
01:49:29,714 --> 01:49:31,485
a lot of things there from time to time.

1811
01:49:31,485 --> 01:49:37,665
There are things that, uh, you
know, I don't wanna force them

1812
01:49:37,665 --> 01:49:41,054
to do something they don't wanna
do and then die, you know, and,

1813
01:49:43,549 --> 01:49:45,809
you know, they need to, they
need, they need to, anything

1814
01:49:45,870 --> 01:49:49,184
we do that's, uh, a big deal.

1815
01:49:49,964 --> 01:49:55,544
Now they, they need to have,
uh, again, I own the company,

1816
01:49:55,544 --> 01:49:56,985
but they need to have more.

1817
01:49:57,344 --> 01:49:57,929
They'll own the company

1818
01:49:58,549 --> 01:49:58,769
and,

1819
01:49:58,990 --> 01:50:05,144
you know, I don't need to start
something they don't wanna do with

1820
01:50:05,144 --> 01:50:12,584
the full knowledge that my operating
opportunity is five years or 10.

1821
01:50:17,010 --> 01:50:20,760
20. Um, we answered that one.

1822
01:50:20,760 --> 01:50:21,750
I had another question.

1823
01:50:22,440 --> 01:50:28,500
Michael Goodin who, um, he, he's
not far from me, uh, in Australia.

1824
01:50:29,010 --> 01:50:31,860
He had a question about your
bulls keeping your bulls in.

1825
01:50:32,219 --> 01:50:37,620
You talk about this morning a bit, keeping
a bulls and tire and what that means for

1826
01:50:37,650 --> 01:50:40,860
management without, you don't have to go
through all the detail, but what are some

1827
01:50:40,860 --> 01:50:45,269
of the sort of the, the pros and the cons
of that sort of, uh, management structure?

1828
01:50:46,620 --> 01:50:48,900
So for those that don't know,
sound like this guy, know, for

1829
01:50:48,900 --> 01:50:50,550
those that don't know, we leave.

1830
01:50:50,820 --> 01:50:56,460
For the most part, leave bulls intact
For many years, I left Bulls in intact.

1831
01:50:56,785 --> 01:51:01,740
Uh, I, I, I cast, I tell people
that we castrated everything born

1832
01:51:01,740 --> 01:51:08,160
on this farm that wasn't named
Harris for years and about 10 or

1833
01:51:08,160 --> 01:51:12,150
12 years ago, whole Foods Market at
the time was my biggest customer.

1834
01:51:12,150 --> 01:51:16,590
I don't sell 'em anymore, but at the
time, I knew my biggest customer, uh,

1835
01:51:16,679 --> 01:51:22,679
embraced the Global Animal Partnership,
which is animal welfare, nonprofit.

1836
01:51:24,269 --> 01:51:26,370
And they, uh, uh,

1837
01:51:28,485 --> 01:51:30,184
set steps one through five.

1838
01:51:31,530 --> 01:51:33,960
Step five was the highest level.

1839
01:51:34,259 --> 01:51:36,420
There was no physical alterations.

1840
01:51:37,620 --> 01:51:39,575
So you didn't cut horns,
you didn't castrate.

1841
01:51:39,929 --> 01:51:41,639
What about, what about,
do you do ear marks?

1842
01:51:41,639 --> 01:51:42,839
Do you take a nick outta the ear?

1843
01:51:42,839 --> 01:51:44,280
No, not, not, not,

1844
01:51:44,339 --> 01:51:45,150
not step five.

1845
01:51:45,150 --> 01:51:45,360
So you

1846
01:51:45,360 --> 01:51:47,254
could, you could put a
tag in the, you put a tag.

1847
01:51:47,445 --> 01:51:47,735
Okay.

1848
01:51:48,155 --> 01:51:50,280
Put a tag in a little puncture punch ear.

1849
01:51:50,309 --> 01:51:52,200
You can't, you can't Notch, notch.

1850
01:51:52,799 --> 01:51:52,920
Yeah.

1851
01:51:52,920 --> 01:51:53,655
Which I used to do.

1852
01:51:53,764 --> 01:51:54,054
Yeah.

1853
01:51:55,200 --> 01:52:00,089
So, uh, and, and the, the belief
is there would be a, uh, a premium

1854
01:52:00,089 --> 01:52:02,549
paid for that if you of step five.

1855
01:52:02,549 --> 01:52:07,889
So I decided I would try it, and
then it, and it worked really well.

1856
01:52:08,160 --> 01:52:09,330
I was very surprised.

1857
01:52:09,330 --> 01:52:10,799
I think I probably had

1858
01:52:13,799 --> 01:52:17,835
six, 700 calves that
were born on the farm.

1859
01:52:18,905 --> 01:52:23,485
And, uh, I didn't castrate, so
it been three something bull.

1860
01:52:25,655 --> 01:52:30,629
I didn't castrate them and I was, I had a
lot trepidation, but it went really well.

1861
01:52:30,629 --> 01:52:34,740
I mean, I, I, I had very little
problem, you know, a little pushing,

1862
01:52:34,740 --> 01:52:35,940
but they were raised together.

1863
01:52:36,240 --> 01:52:39,030
You, you wouldn't, you wouldn't
go to the stockyard and buy from

1864
01:52:39,030 --> 01:52:40,559
different sources and do that.

1865
01:52:41,070 --> 01:52:43,440
Those cans were all raised together.

1866
01:52:43,440 --> 01:52:45,179
There wasn't much of a problem.

1867
01:52:46,835 --> 01:52:53,129
And what, and by the way, they
didn't pay me my premium, so.

1868
01:53:00,014 --> 01:53:04,320
Wasn't much a premium, but, and I
don't do this with them anymore.

1869
01:53:05,055 --> 01:53:11,595
But, but, but the good news is,
uh, I realized that I was actually

1870
01:53:11,595 --> 01:53:14,474
raising butter bulls than I was mine.

1871
01:53:15,195 --> 01:53:19,965
You've seen my cows and they're
pedestrian cross spread cattle.

1872
01:53:19,965 --> 01:53:26,055
They're not show cattle, but
if you have a three 50 bulls to

1873
01:53:26,474 --> 01:53:29,655
choose from this, some good ones.

1874
01:53:30,555 --> 01:53:35,775
And I was buying bulls from people
that had 200 mama cows, so they

1875
01:53:35,775 --> 01:53:40,514
had less than a hundred bulls and
they were keeping the 10 best ones.

1876
01:53:40,995 --> 01:53:45,615
So, you know, it, you know, I, I wasn't
getting the, the selection was not there.

1877
01:53:46,635 --> 01:53:50,535
So, uh, one of the best things
I've done is to save my own

1878
01:53:50,535 --> 01:53:52,785
bulls for the last two 12 years.

1879
01:53:52,785 --> 01:53:55,934
And I really like what
it's doing to my herd.

1880
01:53:57,644 --> 01:54:02,025
Uh, their frame score coming down.

1881
01:54:02,025 --> 01:54:07,514
I think the, the girth is going
up, you know, the, uh, I don't

1882
01:54:07,514 --> 01:54:09,495
have Calvin problems anymore.

1883
01:54:09,525 --> 01:54:14,775
I used to, I used to artificially
inseminate and, uh, really didn't How

1884
01:54:14,775 --> 01:54:15,345
long ago was that?

1885
01:54:15,345 --> 01:54:16,905
Back in conventional land?

1886
01:54:16,910 --> 01:54:17,070
Yeah,

1887
01:54:18,075 --> 01:54:18,495
yeah, back then.

1888
01:54:19,065 --> 01:54:19,365
Yep.

1889
01:54:19,450 --> 01:54:19,670
Yep.

1890
01:54:20,050 --> 01:54:26,865
And I, and I, I, I, I, I can do it
myself and I, uh, I used clean up.

1891
01:54:29,295 --> 01:54:29,445
And I,

1892
01:54:30,345 --> 01:54:33,735
you know, I'd want semen from
bulls that were freaks of nature.

1893
01:54:34,005 --> 01:54:34,485
Mm.

1894
01:54:34,575 --> 01:54:37,575
You know, they would've a,
a ribeye as big as my hat.

1895
01:54:40,515 --> 01:54:43,065
And, you know, attributes is a zero game.

1896
01:54:43,605 --> 01:54:44,025
Yeah.

1897
01:54:44,115 --> 01:54:47,700
If you do, if you do something
real well, there's probably

1898
01:54:47,700 --> 01:54:48,940
stuff you don't do too good.

1899
01:54:49,130 --> 01:54:49,420
Yeah.

1900
01:54:49,690 --> 01:54:49,980
Okay.

1901
01:54:50,200 --> 01:54:57,915
And, and what this did for me is it
allowed me to, to, uh, pick my own

1902
01:54:57,915 --> 01:55:00,015
bulls that were not freaks of nature.

1903
01:55:00,420 --> 01:55:00,640
And,

1904
01:55:01,455 --> 01:55:04,845
and it also allowed me
to have a lot of bulls.

1905
01:55:05,840 --> 01:55:05,960
I,

1906
01:55:08,900 --> 01:55:14,985
but, uh, uh, a friend of mine
was a, and the, uh, were the

1907
01:55:14,985 --> 01:55:16,815
originators of the Beef master breed.

1908
01:55:18,030 --> 01:55:18,810
Master Beef

1909
01:55:18,915 --> 01:55:19,065
Master.

1910
01:55:19,065 --> 01:55:19,185
Really?

1911
01:55:19,395 --> 01:55:19,785
So, yeah.

1912
01:55:20,505 --> 01:55:26,475
And, uh, he's dead now, but he had,
he sent me a, uh, a handwritten

1913
01:55:26,475 --> 01:55:28,455
doc copy of a handwritten document.

1914
01:55:29,265 --> 01:55:36,705
He had, had something like 120
mama cows and put about 20 bulls

1915
01:55:36,705 --> 01:55:41,745
in there with them and, um, bred
them when the calves were born.

1916
01:55:41,745 --> 01:55:45,975
He took, uh, this is very early on when
this before became very popular, but

1917
01:55:45,975 --> 01:55:51,435
he would take hair from the calf, from
the tail head and have DNA tested dna.

1918
01:55:51,435 --> 01:55:51,525
Yeah.

1919
01:55:51,525 --> 01:55:51,795
Right.

1920
01:55:53,220 --> 01:55:57,600
And you, you would think if
you had 120 cows and 20 bulls,

1921
01:55:57,600 --> 01:55:59,640
there'd be about five or 10 bulls.

1922
01:55:59,760 --> 01:56:00,960
Calves per bull.

1923
01:56:01,920 --> 01:56:03,000
No, no, no.

1924
01:56:03,600 --> 01:56:04,500
One bull.

1925
01:56:05,160 --> 01:56:06,150
70 calves.

1926
01:56:07,200 --> 01:56:10,650
One bull 20 then ones and twos and zeros.

1927
01:56:11,490 --> 01:56:11,700
So it

1928
01:56:11,700 --> 01:56:12,210
was a hierarchy, right?

1929
01:56:13,455 --> 01:56:16,355
It was a hierarchy of, of,
of the bulls in that bull.

1930
01:56:16,355 --> 01:56:16,715
Well, I

1931
01:56:16,715 --> 01:56:20,040
think it, what I think it was is
the bull that had the most libido

1932
01:56:20,460 --> 01:56:24,060
and four good legs and two good
testicles and one good penis.

1933
01:56:24,065 --> 01:56:24,275
Yeah.

1934
01:56:24,275 --> 01:56:25,995
And then felt good.

1935
01:56:26,250 --> 01:56:26,490
Yeah.

1936
01:56:27,150 --> 01:56:28,830
Was getting the cows br Yeah.

1937
01:56:29,490 --> 01:56:33,115
And I want my herd to come from that bull.

1938
01:56:33,185 --> 01:56:33,475
Yeah.

1939
01:56:34,845 --> 01:56:35,665
Aga a doula.

1940
01:56:36,165 --> 01:56:36,625
So a

1941
01:56:36,625 --> 01:56:36,745
do

1942
01:56:37,005 --> 01:56:42,930
and you know, if, if by area
are half inch smaller side side.

1943
01:56:43,770 --> 01:56:48,985
So, uh, I embrace that and now
I save my own bull closed herd.

1944
01:56:49,890 --> 01:56:53,700
I like to think I'm originating
my own breed of cattle.

1945
01:56:54,665 --> 01:56:55,595
Have you got a name for that?

1946
01:56:55,595 --> 01:56:55,915
Harris.

1947
01:56:56,055 --> 01:56:56,475
Harris.

1948
01:56:56,815 --> 01:56:57,755
Harris, I

1949
01:56:57,755 --> 01:57:00,955
think, I think it takes two, three or
four five gener people's generations.

1950
01:57:01,135 --> 01:57:01,555
Not cow.

1951
01:57:03,335 --> 01:57:05,115
I'm not, I'm not anything.

1952
01:57:05,550 --> 01:57:06,540
You better think of a name though.

1953
01:57:06,690 --> 01:57:10,920
So Jenny's Jenny or Jody's kids.

1954
01:57:12,025 --> 01:57:12,384
I think it's

1955
01:57:12,384 --> 01:57:12,705
a early,

1956
01:57:15,445 --> 01:57:19,424
the ge the gestation period is 2 83 days.

1957
01:57:20,165 --> 01:57:21,785
We, we ain't gotta come up with a Right.

1958
01:57:23,485 --> 01:57:23,705
So

1959
01:57:24,125 --> 01:57:25,144
that'd be, that'd be great.

1960
01:57:25,144 --> 01:57:25,384
Legacy,

1961
01:57:26,665 --> 01:57:26,905
I think.

1962
01:57:26,974 --> 01:57:27,424
Well, I

1963
01:57:30,804 --> 01:57:33,030
we don't call them will the

1964
01:57:33,030 --> 01:57:33,690
will mask?

1965
01:57:34,139 --> 01:57:34,469
No, just,

1966
01:57:36,719 --> 01:57:37,589
I'm gonna think of it for you.

1967
01:57:37,775 --> 01:57:38,065
Okay.

1968
01:57:38,125 --> 01:57:39,785
You work, I'm, you work on that.

1969
01:57:39,785 --> 01:57:41,219
Have you got a suggestion box somewhere?

1970
01:57:43,769 --> 01:57:45,179
Um, so that's good.

1971
01:57:45,179 --> 01:57:46,500
Michael, would you be satisfied with it?

1972
01:57:46,500 --> 01:57:52,469
I had, I wanted a quick one about the, um,
and what about the quality of the meat?

1973
01:57:52,500 --> 01:57:57,210
So that's obviously the, the, the
batteries are left in there is, yeah.

1974
01:57:57,214 --> 01:58:02,009
The, the, the natural hormonal
cycles and flow and whatever else

1975
01:58:02,610 --> 01:58:06,150
chemistry is, is, is natural.

1976
01:58:06,179 --> 01:58:09,480
Well, how does that impact
on quality and management?

1977
01:58:09,900 --> 01:58:10,379
So, well, yeah,

1978
01:58:10,625 --> 01:58:12,264
that, that, that's a good,
that's a good question.

1979
01:58:12,599 --> 01:58:13,530
And the first one you got

1980
01:58:14,009 --> 01:58:15,105
is that, is that my first good question?

1981
01:58:15,644 --> 01:58:17,025
No, a good question

1982
01:58:17,844 --> 01:58:18,065
yet.

1983
01:58:18,065 --> 01:58:18,905
Another good question.

1984
01:58:19,920 --> 01:58:20,730
It's the second one

1985
01:58:21,285 --> 01:58:21,504
yet.

1986
01:58:21,615 --> 01:58:22,144
Good question.

1987
01:58:23,285 --> 01:58:24,424
So, uh, uh,

1988
01:58:26,745 --> 01:58:27,085
you know.

1989
01:58:27,615 --> 01:58:33,019
I know how this, in this country,
it's prime choice standard, you know?

1990
01:58:33,370 --> 01:58:33,660
Yeah.

1991
01:58:33,679 --> 01:58:33,900
The

1992
01:58:33,900 --> 01:58:37,514
grading, and it is all based
on how fat the animal is.

1993
01:58:38,625 --> 01:58:39,224
And the fact,

1994
01:58:42,405 --> 01:58:44,340
and the fact is, uh,

1995
01:58:46,485 --> 01:58:50,925
intact, you're not gonna, especially
on grass, you don't get any prime.

1996
01:58:51,405 --> 01:58:51,735
Yeah.

1997
01:58:51,735 --> 01:58:51,795
If

1998
01:58:52,005 --> 01:58:55,170
you castrate them on grass, you
ain't getting no prime, you know?

1999
01:58:55,309 --> 01:58:55,530
But

2000
01:58:55,530 --> 01:58:55,965
it's not getting

2001
01:58:55,965 --> 01:58:56,804
fat, it's not getting that.

2002
01:58:56,804 --> 01:58:56,865
They

2003
01:58:57,434 --> 01:58:58,125
don't get that fat.

2004
01:58:58,575 --> 01:58:59,025
Yeah.

2005
01:58:59,025 --> 01:59:05,535
So, uh, I think that if you, if you
are selling, if you below prime in

2006
01:59:05,535 --> 01:59:08,325
choice, it's not that much difference.

2007
01:59:08,865 --> 01:59:09,945
There is some difference.

2008
01:59:09,945 --> 01:59:11,804
And by the way, we sell it as bull meat.

2009
01:59:12,224 --> 01:59:16,335
We, we, and I, and I think there are, and
there's a limit how much you can sell.

2010
01:59:17,650 --> 01:59:25,094
I think there's a, uh, there is a market
for that bull meat and maybe, and I don't,

2011
01:59:25,365 --> 01:59:26,985
maybe it's the guys that are on a, uh,

2012
01:59:29,295 --> 01:59:29,925
bodybuilders

2013
01:59:30,075 --> 01:59:31,275
pro, something like that.

2014
01:59:31,365 --> 01:59:31,665
Yeah.

2015
01:59:32,019 --> 01:59:37,184
But we, uh, and, and Jenny, you know,
Jenny manages inventory very, very

2016
01:59:37,184 --> 01:59:41,565
carefully and you know, we, you know, she
be sure we don't raise too much of it.

2017
01:59:41,655 --> 01:59:43,690
I'm actually, I gonna sell.

2018
01:59:48,870 --> 01:59:49,530
On the pasture.

2019
01:59:49,710 --> 01:59:53,040
So we, we castrated a
percentage of the bull.

2020
01:59:53,130 --> 01:59:53,520
You did

2021
01:59:53,520 --> 01:59:53,760
too?

2022
01:59:53,760 --> 01:59:54,150
Yeah.

2023
01:59:54,810 --> 01:59:57,750
Um, well, I'm gonna, maybe
that's another suggestion I can

2024
01:59:57,750 --> 01:59:58,920
put in the suggestion boxes.

2025
01:59:58,920 --> 01:59:59,970
Like a new brand.

2026
02:00:00,765 --> 02:00:01,830
It's Abus brand.

2027
02:00:02,045 --> 02:00:02,335
Yeah.

2028
02:00:02,640 --> 02:00:02,820
Yeah.

2029
02:00:02,880 --> 02:00:03,470
I'm probably not gonna

2030
02:00:07,155 --> 02:00:07,575
Bishop,

2031
02:00:08,730 --> 02:00:09,780
be a Genie or somebody.

2032
02:00:11,905 --> 02:00:13,735
Don't, don't put, don't,
don't put it in here.

2033
02:00:14,925 --> 02:00:15,215
Okay.

2034
02:00:15,765 --> 02:00:16,055
Okay.

2035
02:00:16,055 --> 02:00:17,850
Well I won't waste my time
giving it to you then.

2036
02:00:17,850 --> 02:00:18,455
No, that's my point.

2037
02:00:18,630 --> 02:00:20,010
Um, okay.

2038
02:00:20,010 --> 02:00:24,510
We better wrap it up pretty soon because
oh one that, um, I, I've got two more.

2039
02:00:25,110 --> 02:00:30,780
Um, you are, you are making a bit of a
few waves and news and I noticed your

2040
02:00:30,780 --> 02:00:37,200
little award over there, um, is back to
Front Solar Rancher of the year 2024.

2041
02:00:37,530 --> 02:00:39,720
You've done some pretty
interesting things with sheep.

2042
02:00:40,915 --> 02:00:41,135
We,

2043
02:00:41,135 --> 02:00:42,450
we just got that this week.

2044
02:00:42,540 --> 02:00:46,020
Uh, so, uh, uh, we, uh,

2045
02:00:48,390 --> 02:00:55,380
because land is, is precious and,
uh, we, uh, several things happened.

2046
02:00:55,470 --> 02:01:00,090
Uh, one is we got the appetite for
more land than we can afford to buy.

2047
02:01:00,690 --> 02:01:01,050
That's one thing.

2048
02:01:02,585 --> 02:01:05,085
The second thing is a, uh, solar.

2049
02:01:11,655 --> 02:01:16,875
Acres of land, uh, about
six from family farm

2050
02:01:23,565 --> 02:01:23,745
array.

2051
02:01:25,710 --> 02:01:31,969
And I seen so many solar arrays
go in and just rate the land.

2052
02:01:32,410 --> 02:01:41,804
I mean, just bulldoze the hills, uh, raw
dirt, not soil, raw dirt under it, and

2053
02:01:45,405 --> 02:01:50,130
mowing with lawnmowers and
spraying with chemicals.

2054
02:01:50,269 --> 02:01:54,554
And I, I really hate to see
that land done that way.

2055
02:01:55,665 --> 02:02:00,974
And, um, it's a long story, but I
used some political capital and got

2056
02:02:00,974 --> 02:02:05,175
the CEO to come down and I was lucky.

2057
02:02:05,594 --> 02:02:13,184
Again, Reagan Farr is his name, and
he's the CEO of, uh, Silicon Ranch.

2058
02:02:13,184 --> 02:02:14,655
That's the, that's the operator.

2059
02:02:15,644 --> 02:02:23,925
And Reagan is a attorney, a
CEO, an MBA, all those letters.

2060
02:02:24,950 --> 02:02:29,415
And a brilliant guy and
very non-agricultural.

2061
02:02:29,775 --> 02:02:34,545
But his dad was the, uh, poultry director.

2062
02:02:36,375 --> 02:02:36,915
University.

2063
02:02:37,934 --> 02:02:44,715
And while he is a Ivy League businessman,
he was raised chickens and he, so he had

2064
02:02:44,715 --> 02:02:52,394
a level of understanding and we showed him
the benefit ecologically of grazing, not

2065
02:02:52,394 --> 02:02:55,275
mowing and spraying, and he embraced it.

2066
02:02:55,965 --> 02:03:01,455
And, uh, we'll be at about 2000 acres of
solar arrays, uh, hopefully this year.

2067
02:03:02,085 --> 02:03:09,974
Uh, and she, I can't put, uh, cattle
or goats under them too Frail.

2068
02:03:09,974 --> 02:03:13,724
The are not rigid, but sheep work well.

2069
02:03:14,655 --> 02:03:15,309
Yeah, right.

2070
02:03:16,065 --> 02:03:18,705
And so, yeah, because the
cattles, they're too high, high.

2071
02:03:18,705 --> 02:03:21,134
And the goats would want sort
of clamber and jump around.

2072
02:03:21,134 --> 02:03:21,585
I guess I'm

2073
02:03:21,585 --> 02:03:27,190
gonna say this, we're we're,
I'm gonna from my plant and

2074
02:03:29,264 --> 02:03:34,630
on that I got some, uh, some
funding from the federal government

2075
02:03:34,769 --> 02:03:37,005
and we'll find some more.

2076
02:03:37,905 --> 02:03:40,514
It's gonna be what's called a
cattle tracker, which will be high

2077
02:03:40,514 --> 02:03:44,985
enough for cattle degrees under,
and I think that's gonna be a real,

2078
02:03:45,195 --> 02:03:48,255
uh, game changer, dual purpose.

2079
02:03:48,855 --> 02:03:54,465
Um, my question around that was, do you
know, has anyone done any research on.

2080
02:03:55,080 --> 02:04:00,750
The impact, potential impact of like EMFs,
electromagnetic frequencies and so on.

2081
02:04:00,750 --> 02:04:04,200
Like there's a lot of current
going through that system on animal

2082
02:04:04,200 --> 02:04:11,010
behavior, reproduction health, you
know, is there, is there any, has

2083
02:04:11,010 --> 02:04:12,150
there been any work done on that?

2084
02:04:12,150 --> 02:04:12,300
I dunno,

2085
02:04:14,370 --> 02:04:20,940
we've got about 2000 head that's a lot
of shape under the solar array and I

2086
02:04:20,940 --> 02:04:27,060
think we're gonna go to about three
head as the, the land is degraded

2087
02:04:27,420 --> 02:04:28,590
with the construction process.

2088
02:04:29,070 --> 02:04:35,160
So you know about a sheet per acre
about all can stand, but land improves.

2089
02:04:36,305 --> 02:04:40,230
We can get the numbers up, but
we report is we, we've got a good

2090
02:04:40,440 --> 02:04:42,265
sheep eyebrow and we, I, I see.

2091
02:04:43,380 --> 02:04:45,845
I'm not a scientist and I
don't have a control group,

2092
02:04:46,105 --> 02:04:48,600
but I see no adverse effects.

2093
02:04:49,170 --> 02:04:50,940
There may be some, I'm
not here to tell you.

2094
02:04:50,940 --> 02:04:51,810
Oh, it's fine.

2095
02:04:51,810 --> 02:04:52,620
Just fine.

2096
02:04:52,680 --> 02:04:53,370
I'm not saying that.

2097
02:04:53,820 --> 02:04:54,000
Yep.

2098
02:04:54,600 --> 02:05:01,080
But if they're gonna build solar
voltaic arrays, this is a heck of a

2099
02:05:01,080 --> 02:05:04,590
lot better ecologically than the other

2100
02:05:04,590 --> 02:05:04,680
thing.

2101
02:05:05,430 --> 02:05:09,000
Well, in some ways it offsets the,
well, certainly the impact and may

2102
02:05:09,210 --> 02:05:14,940
regenerate that disturbance of the,
all that construction, the whole thing.

2103
02:05:14,940 --> 02:05:15,300
You know, they

2104
02:05:15,585 --> 02:05:15,945
absolutely do.

2105
02:05:16,445 --> 02:05:22,410
And keep in mind, you're in the coastal
plains of Georgia and this was a forest.

2106
02:05:23,670 --> 02:05:24,030
Yeah.

2107
02:05:27,465 --> 02:05:32,955
A field with solar pounds
emulates that Forest shade.

2108
02:05:33,600 --> 02:05:33,840
Yeah.

2109
02:05:34,120 --> 02:05:35,680
A whole lot better than a

2110
02:05:37,935 --> 02:05:41,865
global field of soybeans
or peanuts or corn or,

2111
02:05:42,825 --> 02:05:43,155
totally.

2112
02:05:43,215 --> 02:05:44,805
I mean, there's, you know,
there's, there's, there's

2113
02:05:44,805 --> 02:05:46,215
economics behind it as well.

2114
02:05:46,725 --> 02:05:48,975
Um, final question.

2115
02:05:49,215 --> 02:05:53,625
Will, um, Angelica and I were talking
about, as I mentioned before, you

2116
02:05:53,625 --> 02:05:58,155
know, our favorite, well my favorite
thing is our job as parents is to

2117
02:05:58,155 --> 02:05:59,745
prepare our children to leave us.

2118
02:06:00,285 --> 02:06:07,305
Do you have any parental advice that you
as a father, as a parent you can impart?

2119
02:06:07,335 --> 02:06:11,715
Has there been any tips and tricks or
any sort of mantras that you, you know,

2120
02:06:12,585 --> 02:06:14,550
I'll ask my wife and get back to you.

2121
02:06:16,515 --> 02:06:16,815
That's

2122
02:06:16,815 --> 02:06:17,625
a cop out.

2123
02:06:17,805 --> 02:06:19,815
No, there must be something you
didn't interact with your daughter.

2124
02:06:20,565 --> 02:06:23,590
Well, my wife and I been married.

2125
02:06:23,700 --> 02:06:26,150
Same woman for 40 something years.

2126
02:06:26,840 --> 02:06:27,510
50 plus.

2127
02:06:27,510 --> 02:06:30,160
50. Don't tell her, I dunno how many.

2128
02:06:30,270 --> 02:06:30,920
It's a long time.

2129
02:06:32,500 --> 02:06:33,440
I'm not gonna edit that out.

2130
02:06:33,510 --> 02:06:35,080
Yeah, she, she listens to this.

2131
02:06:35,250 --> 02:06:36,080
She's not gonna watch this.

2132
02:06:36,220 --> 02:06:38,560
She, I might just send her, it's too long.

2133
02:06:38,865 --> 02:06:40,275
I might send her this minute.

2134
02:06:40,280 --> 02:06:40,360
Yeah,

2135
02:06:40,360 --> 02:06:40,640
yeah.

2136
02:06:40,800 --> 02:06:41,760
I might come to Australia.

2137
02:06:43,260 --> 02:06:43,840
You're welcome

2138
02:06:47,380 --> 02:06:47,800
parent.

2139
02:06:51,360 --> 02:06:56,700
We have an old fashioned relationship
in that I ran the farm and she

2140
02:06:56,700 --> 02:07:00,330
ran the house and the family,
and she did a really good job.

2141
02:07:00,330 --> 02:07:03,809
She raised three, uh, wonderful children.

2142
02:07:03,955 --> 02:07:06,955
I, I slept in the house, but
I was gone before they got up

2143
02:07:07,014 --> 02:07:10,559
and got home after went bed.

2144
02:07:11,849 --> 02:07:17,610
Uh, but two of the three daughters decided
to come back and join the farm, which

2145
02:07:17,610 --> 02:07:20,820
was a, a very pleasant surprise for me.

2146
02:07:21,599 --> 02:07:25,349
Uh, but no, I'm, I, you know, I'm
just not the best person to give

2147
02:07:25,349 --> 02:07:28,110
you, uh, child racing advice.

2148
02:07:28,950 --> 02:07:29,669
I'm, I'm the best to give.

2149
02:07:29,669 --> 02:07:31,264
You need cow raising.

2150
02:07:31,964 --> 02:07:33,750
Is there any, is there any, any parallels?

2151
02:07:33,750 --> 02:07:36,945
Probably apart from the, apart
from the castration bit, probably.

2152
02:07:36,945 --> 02:07:37,384
That's right.

2153
02:07:38,705 --> 02:07:40,025
I didn't castrate any of my children.

2154
02:07:41,254 --> 02:07:41,985
They were, they were,

2155
02:07:42,014 --> 02:07:42,384
they were,

2156
02:07:43,094 --> 02:07:45,089
they were lucky for them.

2157
02:07:45,210 --> 02:07:45,480
Yeah.

2158
02:07:45,750 --> 02:07:46,424
Um, okay.

2159
02:07:47,165 --> 02:07:51,150
So we'll defer, we'll, we'll
defer to your, your lovely wife.

2160
02:07:51,719 --> 02:07:53,099
We'll, um, we're gonna wrap it up.

2161
02:07:53,099 --> 02:07:54,059
That's been a while.

2162
02:07:54,089 --> 02:07:56,219
Um, what I'm gonna do is take
a section outta that and I

2163
02:07:56,219 --> 02:07:57,960
made some little notes there.

2164
02:07:58,290 --> 02:08:00,750
I'm putting that into a
separate little thing for.

2165
02:08:01,455 --> 02:08:05,025
20, 30 minutes, it'll go to a
subscription, our subscribers, and I'll

2166
02:08:05,025 --> 02:08:08,054
get that, um, separate to the rest of it.

2167
02:08:08,714 --> 02:08:13,275
Um, what I'm, if you are happy to,
we definitely need a break now.

2168
02:08:13,275 --> 02:08:14,985
We might turn that air
conditioning back on for a minute.

2169
02:08:15,434 --> 02:08:19,455
Um, I just wanna do 10 minutes of a,
a quick q and a sub standard little

2170
02:08:19,455 --> 02:08:20,745
questions, but let's have a break.

2171
02:08:21,285 --> 02:08:26,504
And can I just say what an absolute
honor and joy it's been and I, I'm,

2172
02:08:26,504 --> 02:08:31,665
I'm, I'm surprised because I didn't
know you well enough up to this, up

2173
02:08:31,665 --> 02:08:33,165
to the point of being here yesterday.

2174
02:08:33,165 --> 02:08:38,955
But now your generosity in your,
your time, your wisdom, your, I

2175
02:08:38,955 --> 02:08:43,019
mean, it's clear this community
is a result of your generosity of,

2176
02:08:43,065 --> 02:08:44,535
of, in so many different levels.

2177
02:08:45,014 --> 02:08:51,044
We had such an interesting walk around,
uh, drive around today, uh, chats

2178
02:08:51,044 --> 02:08:53,084
last night and chats at at lunch.

2179
02:08:53,504 --> 02:08:59,115
Um, I can't thank you enough for
the time you've put aside to, um,

2180
02:08:59,535 --> 02:09:05,115
to speak with me and my family
and to, to, to capture this gold.

2181
02:09:05,594 --> 02:09:11,054
Um, so I just can't, I dunno how, oh,
you know what I, I was gonna bring, I've

2182
02:09:11,054 --> 02:09:14,924
got 'em in the house down there, you
know, have you got Tim Tam biscuits?

2183
02:09:14,985 --> 02:09:16,035
They're chocolate biscuit.

2184
02:09:16,575 --> 02:09:21,764
Oh, you're in for, so my grandfather, um.

2185
02:09:23,820 --> 02:09:25,680
Invented his biscuit called the Tim Tam.

2186
02:09:25,680 --> 02:09:26,610
It's a chocolate biscuit.

2187
02:09:26,970 --> 02:09:31,200
And in 19 54, 19 56 in a Kentucky
Derby, there was a, there was a

2188
02:09:31,830 --> 02:09:32,760
1954,

2189
02:09:33,120 --> 02:09:37,410
it was a 54 Kentucky Derby, or 56, oh,
there was a horse running called Tim Tam.

2190
02:09:37,530 --> 02:09:40,140
And my grandfather was in the states at
the time and didn't go, I don't think

2191
02:09:40,140 --> 02:09:42,990
he went to the, the horse race, but
he saw the, you know, the form guide.

2192
02:09:43,590 --> 02:09:45,450
He went, wow, that's a great name.

2193
02:09:45,480 --> 02:09:48,720
And he was making this biscuit and he,
he patented the name or whatever You did.

2194
02:09:48,720 --> 02:09:49,380
Trademark it.

2195
02:09:50,340 --> 02:09:53,430
Anyway, that's become
Australia's most famous biscuit.

2196
02:09:53,430 --> 02:09:54,000
How about that?

2197
02:09:54,000 --> 02:09:56,610
And, and I brought a packet
from Australia for you.

2198
02:09:56,610 --> 02:10:00,210
Well, thank you sir. And I also
brought a bandana on these.

2199
02:10:00,210 --> 02:10:01,530
I've got about six colors.

2200
02:10:01,620 --> 02:10:01,710
Yeah.

2201
02:10:01,710 --> 02:10:03,600
I'm gonna give you, you
can choose which color.

2202
02:10:03,630 --> 02:10:04,110
Wow.

2203
02:10:04,320 --> 02:10:07,805
There's a pink one there, there's green,
there's blue, there's all sorts of, I

2204
02:10:07,805 --> 02:10:09,125
better, I better move that pink one.

2205
02:10:09,325 --> 02:10:09,805
I don't

2206
02:10:09,825 --> 02:10:10,685
You look good with the pink

2207
02:10:10,685 --> 02:10:10,765
one.

2208
02:10:10,785 --> 02:10:11,205
Really?

2209
02:10:11,580 --> 02:10:11,940
I reckon.

2210
02:10:11,945 --> 02:10:12,365
Any color?

2211
02:10:12,365 --> 02:10:13,685
Yeah, I probably good with any color.

2212
02:10:14,130 --> 02:10:14,670
You are.

2213
02:10:14,670 --> 02:10:15,840
You, you'd be good with any of it.

2214
02:10:15,840 --> 02:10:18,120
So that that's, that's my
little bit of generosity.

2215
02:10:18,600 --> 02:10:20,070
So you, oh, you got one there?

2216
02:10:20,580 --> 02:10:20,640
Yeah.

2217
02:10:20,640 --> 02:10:22,650
Is that your hanky or
do you like dab it down?

2218
02:10:22,650 --> 02:10:23,715
Yeah, it's more like that.

2219
02:10:23,715 --> 02:10:23,995
Yeah.

2220
02:10:24,240 --> 02:10:24,990
Wipe it down.

2221
02:10:24,990 --> 02:10:27,090
I notice you haven't, it's getting
warmer in here and you haven't used it.

2222
02:10:27,090 --> 02:10:27,540
We used it.

2223
02:10:27,540 --> 02:10:28,650
You just sneaky one, you sand.

2224
02:10:29,160 --> 02:10:29,970
Sneaky little dab.

2225
02:10:29,970 --> 02:10:30,720
Yeah, sweat.

2226
02:10:30,720 --> 02:10:31,560
It's getting warmer in here.

2227
02:10:32,070 --> 02:10:32,880
Um, let's leave it there.

2228
02:10:32,880 --> 02:10:36,540
We'll, um, if we do another quick
10 minutes after you've had a little

2229
02:10:36,540 --> 02:10:38,995
rest or a little stretch mm-hmm.

2230
02:10:39,175 --> 02:10:41,640
And then you are officially
released from your duties.

2231
02:10:41,640 --> 02:10:43,435
And I, again, so appreciate your time.

2232
02:10:43,485 --> 02:10:44,595
Thank you so much for coming.

2233
02:10:45,545 --> 02:10:46,195
Will Legend.

2234
02:10:46,195 --> 02:10:47,160
Thanks so much.

2235
02:10:51,240 --> 02:10:55,050
If you enjoyed this episode, we'd love
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2236
02:10:55,050 --> 02:10:58,740
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2237
02:10:58,950 --> 02:11:02,730
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2238
02:11:03,060 --> 02:11:06,900
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2239
02:11:06,990 --> 02:11:10,710
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2240
02:11:10,710 --> 02:11:12,930
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2241
02:11:13,320 --> 02:11:19,650
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