Practically Ranching
Join Matt Perrier as he visits weekly with interesting, thoughtful, entertaining individuals within the beef community. Conversations will inspire curiosity and creativity while maintaining the independent spirit and practical nature for which ranchers are known.
Practically Ranching
#73 - Rich Porter, A Stocker's Stockman
Rich Porter owns and operates Porter Cattle Company, a grazing and backgrounding operation, located north of Emporia, Kansas. He receives around 7,000 head of three-weight, high-risk calves from the southeast annually and grows them to roughly 800 pounds.
Rich holds degrees in chemical engineering, business and law, but for the last five decades, he has been a student of agriculture. His knowledge and ingenuity in the areas of beef production, conservation and management are an inspiration for many.
RIch was recently honored with the Livestock and Meat Industry Council's 2025 Stockman of the Year award during their annual Stockmen's Dinner in Manhattan, KS.
Thanks for joining us for episode 73 of Practically Ranching. I'm Matt Perrier, and we're here thanks to Dalebanks Angus, your home for practical profitable genetics since 1904. I've gotten the opportunity to interview a lot of pretty smart folks over the years on this podcast. I. I obviously never ask anyone their IQ, but this episode's guest will likely rival nearly any of them with his level of intelligence. Rich Porter is a chemical engineer. He has a law degree and an MBA, and he's a generous philanthropist and supporter of his community and civic organizations. And for nearly 50 years, he's been growing his family Stocker business, Porter Cattle company, near Redding, Kansas. Last month he was honored by the Livestock and Meat Industry Council as the Stockman of the Year during their annual stockman's dinner in Manhattan, Kansas. I got to sit down with Rich ahead of this, and in this episode we talk about a lot of stuff, personnel management, cattle procurement, general just ranch decision making. But the thing I appreciate most about Rich is his selfless character and his dedication to all those around them. You know, I think if you looked up the term"give credit where credit is due," it would likely say,"see also rich Porter." Whether it's Kansas State University or community businesses, or even folks in the area who may just need a helping hand, Rich is gonna find a way to support them whenever he can. You know, sometimes businesses who get big or successful are kind of seen as the villain. Rich Porter is anything but. Rich and I recorded this episode minutes before he went on stage to accept his award, and I think that he might have used me to test some of his, uh, material that he had prepared for his, acceptance speech. After we get through that, we loosen up and have a really, really good conversation and a ton of useful wisdom. You know, like so many of these smart guests that we've had on here. Rich is one of those folks who loves to learn, and I think he loves even more to share that knowledge with anybody who might be able to benefit from it. And I think you'll agree that there's a lot that we can all learn from folks like Rich Porter.
Matt:Well, I'm gonna start off by saying congratulations, uh, by the time we air this podcast, you will, it will be way in the rear view mirror, but you're being honored this evening here in Manhattan as the Kansas State University Animal Science Stockman of the Year. So congrats on that. It's a great honor and, and well deserved. And I think as we talk here for the next, uh, little bit, I'd say folks will understand completely why you've gotten this honor. So it. Great deal, and we're looking forward to tonight to hearing some of your comments.
Rich:Well, Matt, thank you very much. And I was totally surprised and shocked when I was named and very humbled by it and, and such, but I, I, I graciously accepted it and, uh, and coming from my peers, I, there, there couldn't have been a bigger pat on the back.
Matt:Yeah, that's, that's really cool. Well, for those of you, and a lot of people that are listening to this are from the local area and, and, and know exactly your story but for those outside of the region and area, tell us a little bit about Rich Porter and how you came up through Ly County and maybe how you came back and all of the, uh, all the story that, that lies there in
Rich:You bet. my. Parents grew up in, in, uh, great families that were totally hammered by the Great Depression. but my parents' families, they valued education and they assisted my, both my, my father Walter Porter and my mother Louise Anderson porter, uh, they got, they both got teaching degrees or certificates and, uh, my parents met teaching school in Junction City, Kansas, and they, uh, farmed and raised cattle part-time while they both taught until they got big enough that, uh, they could, uh, farm, uh, full time. And my father didn't buy his, the, the first land my dad bought, uh, was only two years before I was born. And it's now an 80 now owned by Tom Moxley, near Council Grove. And so dad went ahead and pushed very hard and, and, uh, grew the operation, you know, and took a lot of risk and worked and worked very hard and smart and, things did go ahead and work out Growing up in that environment, I knew I was never gonna be in agriculture, but there's nothing but long hours or brutally hard work for very little pay. And so when I went to K State, I wanted to, and I. Got a degree in chemical engineering, then I got a law degree and worked in environmental control for Bethlehem Steel. And for a number of years my dad kept leaning on me, wanting me to, to return to the farm. And finally, at the age of 29, uh, just on a whim, I came back, and that was in 1979, uh, one year before the 1980s hit. Wow. And in a few years, I was too poor to leave the farm, but things did work out great. One of my big concerns was how well my father and I would get along. we got along great 99% of the time, but my dad and I both knew that we could both be stubborn. So for every decision to be made, we first decided which one of us was a decision maker and which one was merely the advisor if a decision turned out to be wrong. We never blamed decision maker, though. Sometimes our tongues bled from bite again, and we knew that what happened up to that point in time was merely history. So we only focused on what is the best decision going forward from the day and, uh. Things worked out well. I'm beyond blessed to have three great children. It turned out that none of my children chose to go into agriculture and um, uh, daughter Ruth is a university professor. Sons Ryan and Eric both have advanced degrees in computer science and they did very well in Silicon Valley and are essentially retired. Not having anyone returning to the farm gave me increasing increased capacity for charitable giving, and when I saw the dedication of the K State professors, staff, students, and alums, it makes me glad to donate because I know K State spends its money wisely. Also, I owe huge debt debt to Case State because I returned to agriculture. Knowing that I knew nothing about it. So I worked very closely with K State and extension for information. And some of the K State people still with us would include Gary Kool, Larry Cora, Frank Brazel, and many more.
Matt:I would assume this would've been the same, even if you'd to come home straight from college and not worked in chemical engineering and the law fields. But you've always been a, just a constant learner and just every meeting that you go to, extension, Tallgrass legacy Alliance, can Livestock Association, wherever I see you on the front row, you know, just soaking it all in. How, how do you keep that? Curiosity always going and, and, um, has that always been there or is it something just as after you came back to agriculture?
Rich:Well, curiosity was probably when, you know, when you know, you know nothing, you, you're a better student because Yeah. That's the only person you, the only person you can't explain anything to is somebody that already knows it all. So knowing that you don't know it all, and then probably as. As I've gotten older, you start realizing all the important things that. Concepts that you may have missed. And so you are even more intent on trying to, uh, learn from others and what practices, you know, what practices did go ahead and work. And now at 75 years of age, well, my mind is not quite as nimble. I don't retain, um, uh, uh, details near as well as I used to. But being blessed with. Seven fantastic employees. And so it's, it's, I used to have to pretend like my employees were very important to me. I no longer need to pretend. They, they, they, they, they know they're important to me and, and they're also dedicated to the operation that in those very rare instances where I feel I need to spur'em on. I offered to help. Good. And they say, no, no, no. We'll get it. We'll get it.
Matt:That's a great plan. That's a great plan. That's funny. So let's take a step back. You got back home in 79? Yes. The farm crisis of the eighties hit shortly thereafter. What did Porter Cattle Company or Porter Ranch, whatever it was called at the time, Porter Farms, what, what did it look like then? How did it change in those first few years? And then just bring us right on up to today as you go forward.
Rich:Well, through the eighties with interest rates of 15 going on up to 20%, uh, you obviously you did not buy, uh. New equipment you kept the existing equipment, uh, going and going into the crisis, uh, used equipment became cheaper. And what now looking back, was fool hard. But, uh, anytime land came up for sale, my dad was leaning on me very hard to, uh, to buy it. I almost didn't have any choice to not buy it. And I'd tell my dad what my debt equity ratio was and they said, oh, you'll look, you'll look good in 20 years and such. So yes, we did make it. Didn't have to write a single dollar down, but we were blessed to have a, a, a, a great bank that we were with, that that went ahead and stayed with us and, and, uh. We had a basic plan that that did that did make money, right, and is essentially buying small, cheap cattle that may have odd on appearance, but it was not gonna affect the final product and, and. We had always felt that, uh, when we were buying the, the plain calves typically weighing three 50 pounds, high risk calves outta Southeast, we needed to take them through finish to achieve the full value.'cause we thought they were gonna be at least average cattle. But, uh, it's, it's, you know, cattle are like people. It's what's on the inside that counts. And ugly is only skin deep. And so. We, for the first 10 years, I, we carried on with my dad. We placed all of our cattle in a commercial feedlot, but then I saw my county seed of Emporia had a, uh, uh, uh, IBP now Tyson packing plant that killed over 4,000 head of cattle a day. And so I switched to finishing cattle on the farm and, and finished cattle at at home for. 20 years until they closed down the slaughter at Emporia. And at that point I knew when I had to ship my cattle a distance to a packer that it would no longer work. And also the, the grids that large feed lots could have was. Seemingly better than mine. And so I started, uh, I evolved to selling my cattle at, uh, as feeder cattle. Typically been, you know, between 850 and 925 pounds, kind of what are, what we consider to be the optimal, uh, transition point. And, um, um. So that is our economic model now, and in those planer cattle at Brody Peak, at the Emporia sale barn, he sorts them into about, we typically deliver three to 500 head at a time, and he sorts them into about. Into typically three different selling groups in, in weights, divisible by 50,000 pounds. Sure. And so people buying'em, each lot's gonna be two trucks or three trucks making it easy for the buyer to, to handle them. And uh, Brody Peak also sorts off. The ugliest all typically four or 5%. The last truck down to the Emporia sale barn at my county seat, uh, brings the re the quote, re reject cattle back. And as we assemble enough for a pen, and then we, we place them into commercial feed lot. Okay. And, uh, those cattle, um. They sell quite well. Many of the cattle are rejected from being sold in the auction barn because they're short and squatty, but quite a few of those cattle will end up as, uh, prime, CAB or there there's more that bring a premium than bring a discount. And so you think, well, there's redemption in death that calf at uh, 350 pounds. He was in selling in the bottom 20% of the, of the, uh, price bracket. And then at 875 pounds, he was in the bottom. 5% of that bottom 20%, and he ends up at an$80 plate steakhouse and such. And, and it, it's great. Our, our packing industry, they can, uh, identify those cattle that are gonna bring a premium. Of course there are some cattle in there because they're being ag or some dairy influence that would, that would, would bring a discount, but typically the premiums will, will, will offset the discounts.
Matt:It's fascinating to me the numbers that you are talking about, both purchasing, selling throughout the year, and you know this as well as anyone you could quote unquote, and I know Brody's gonna be listening, but you could quote unquote, cut out the middleman and a lot of people would say that it'd be in your best interest of doing that because you're paying so much for all these extra commission fees and transportation and handling and everything else. What are your reasons, and I think I know what mine would be, but what are your reasons for racking those and selling them at auction as yearlings to then go onto the feed yard?
Rich:You're precisely correct, Matt. That was my plan A. Okay. did that a little bit, but I had to sort the cattle into various groups. We had to determine a, a weighing conditions and a price, and it is more cost effective for me to have Brody who is a specialist at doing it. Sure. And there's a, a lot of truth in the old adage that it's easy to eliminate the middleman, it is more difficult to eliminate what the middleman does. And I am glad to use that person. Brody Peak Emporia sale barn livestock sales. They, they, they produce vastly more value for me Yeah. Than what the commission is that, that I pay him.
Matt:And that's, that's well said. I mean, when, when that middle man is providing a service that exceeds what it is that you could have made on your own, then yeah. He's, he's worth every penny you're paying.
Rich:Yeah. And a, a little similar story. In the first five years I was back the, uh, we, I carried on and we put up our own silage. Mm-hmm. And we had our own cutters and trucks, and one time we got rained out. Okay. Custom cutters was operating on a neighbor five miles south of us, and they got about three and a half inches of rain. And so they were shut down, but we only got a quarter inch. And I went down and asked'em if they, they would come up and cut on me for a two thirds of the initial rate if they wanted to do that. And they said no. And so I started to walk off and he said, no. We said, we. We don't want to, but we will. And they, they came up and they cut for about three days until it dried out enough that they could cut back there on their, on, on their place. And I studied things and, and what have you. And so then I, I contacted the cutters and I said, next year I'd like you have to come up and cut my, all of my silage at the full rate. Because I said, I cannot compete with you on my own ranch putting up corn silage, and it's been. The same outfit, FRAs Brothers out of Inman, and they've cut my silage for 35 years and I'm now dealing with a grandson of the first people that cut for us. Wow. But it's a, a, a great relationship, but. One of the things that you, an operator, a producer cattleman, has full control over is deciding what he's gonna do himself and what he's gonna hire somebody else to do. Right? Be it putting in fence, uh, auction barn for selling cattle, corn, silage, or haying. In fact, we, we hire somebody to put up our hay and such,. We do a lot of the mechanical work ourselves. I, you know, things that people might normally go to a, a, a commercial repair shop to do, but a bearing goes out of the rear end of a large truck, my guys, that's, it's, they don't break a sweat tearing the rear end down and replacing the ings and putting it back together, or leaf springs or on the, Air brake systems or what have you and, and a number of the components on the external of the engine that they will go ahead and tear into. But there's a a few things that we don't go in inside of an engine, we'll pay somebody else to do that and such, so, but any event that, of deciding what you do yourself and what somebody else can do for us more efficiently.
Matt:How, how do you make those outsourcing decisions? That's always a tough one for me. And I think it varies sometimes with the labor that's available. Correct. And, and their abilities and things like that. But that's always a tough one. I mean, even just, you know, fixing tires and things like that. Uh, do you have. A formula or that you do that cost benefit analysis, or do you just have that innate nature that you can make the decision yourself? Well,
Rich:yeah, I, I'd like to say that I have a Excel spreadsheet that gives me the answer, but no, it's more of a little bit on the back of the envelope and what do I think it's gonna cost us to do it and uh, and for somebody else to do it and having the labor availability and even. Of hauling manure is something that we have manure truck and we have several loaders. We always have a spare, uh, wheel loader. Uh, but many cases we end up hiring more manure hauled than we haul ourselves merely because we just don't allocate the labor to go ahead and do it. And so, and. It's difficult to always make the perfect decision, but it's fairly easy to make what do I think is the best decision today on that decision, on that half mile fence that really needs to get replaced and you might make a different decision tomorrow.
Matt:Yeah, I heard a, uh, I heard a Navy Seal one time say in a, I think he was given a talk at National Cattlemen's Convention or something. Plan for perfection, but don't wait for the perfect plan. Oh, very good. We never get, yeah, get anything done. And, and I think that's kind of what you're saying. I mean, sometimes it may make sense economically to do it yourself, but time-wise, the, things you won't get done when you got fresh calves coming in that need attention or whatever else. It's, it's more important to do those priority things and you can farm the other stuff out.
Rich:Yeah, absolutely. And on rare occasions, like if. Replacement calves are just way too high and we're taking a two or three month pause on bringing in calves, waiting for the spread between the calf and the feeder to return to normal. We will have some additional labor or somebody, uh, neighbor, some somebody is between jobs and he's available. For a couple of months will we have a job for him? And so yeah, we'll go in and tear into a, a large fence project. Mm-hmm. Or put'em on hauling manure. And so occasionally you will have the, the labor and rather than having people going out and doing make work jobs, you know, trying to have'em do something that is, is quite good, but also what you do yourself or hire out, you know, my. Great long-term employees, you know, they're, they're probably a, a bigger decision maker on that than I am in today's world.
Matt:Yeah. Good for you. So let's talk a little about buying those calves and everything from the economics of it. Like you said, sometimes it doesn't make sense to be buying those new calves that what they're bringing. Um, are you typically, if the market allows it or, or. Elicits it. Are you typically buying calves 12 months of the year, or is there certain times that you're buying outta the southeast and other times that you're not?
Rich:Yeah, I, I, I'm, I'm typically buying cattle about nine months out of the year. Okay. From January up to October, and, uh, we shut off then. Middle of October, November, and December. Most of my cattle come from the southeast, and so it makes no sense to shift those cattle to a colder environment. At the same time, they're going through the, the stress, the horrible health stress of, of that first 30, 45 days. So that, that's one aspect of it Also. At that timeframe in October, November, we're bringing the cattle in off of grass. And so my, my cattle pins are gonna be the fullest at that point. And my, the pins where we receive the cattle, well those are very handy for us sorting the cattle, coming, coming in off of grass. And our grazing program is that we supplement, uh, with distillers give the cattle about a third or fourth, their diet of wet distillers fed. It, uh, almost every day out there on pasture. And so we can be out there until Thanksgiving time or so and still have adequate, uh, and still receive adequate gains. And this also, uh, allows us to not buy most of our cattle in. March and April right ahead of grass when the calves are the highest. Mm-hmm. And we're buying'em throughout the year and also with the labor of, uh, starting calves of trying to buy all the calves in a two month period. Right. It, it becomes, you know, it's spread out over about 10 months. And so both the labor and the pens are not overloaded. I have tried, uh, trying a starting lot in Georgia, thinking that, uh, one of my two buyers is in Georgia and he's within a hundred miles where the cattle are purchased. And that, uh, with it being closer that you'd have a health improvement and also. Of going through the wintertime. They're gonna be warmer down there than they are up here. They are great people, very hardworking, very dedicated, but it's, it's yet to be determined whether it's gonna be a net financial benefit or not. Right. But I am dealing with great people, but whether it will work long term, that's yet to be determined.
Matt:Yeah. So what, so most of those calves you're buying are coming outta the southeast, weighing that three and a half page. It, it,
Rich:it can be three and a half. There's times that the market says four, four and a half, right? And, but I have a spreadsheet for everything. For what I would pay for everything for 200 pounds to 700 pounds. And I give that to my two buyers. And incidentally. Virtually a hundred percent of my cattle for 30 years have come from just two buyers. Wow. In some cases, I'm working then with the next generation of that operation because, uh, uh, there's, there's so much trust because you're, you're buying. Plain ugly cattle, or not ugly, but you know, not, not, not fancy cattle and, uh, and, and how the health is gonna play out is very important. And so it's a, it's a long-term deal, uh, uh, from them. and also when the, the cattle that come to me that they may weigh 300 and. 50 pounds, but there's cattle on the load. Everything from 200 to 500 pounds. Right. So what kind of, what was able to be bought more cost effectively?'cause after, after 30 days on our operation, we sort them in a hundred pound weight increments. Okay. And so having uniform weight groups coming in adds no value to me, but gives more flexibility from my buyers.
Matt:So as those calves hit your starter yard, they will be unloaded. Processed on arrival. Do you wait a couple of days? What's your
Rich:Lots of debate? We typically, many times my cattle arrive on Friday. Three, four o'clock in the morning. And so they're there when, when, when we get there. And we'll typically go ahead and process the cattle, process the cattle at Friday afternoon because I, we typically don't process new cattle on Saturday and Sunday because I try to have my employees have. Every other weekend off and the weekend they're on only working there in the mornings. And so it's just a, management decision of. To keep fantastic employees. We just try not to be processing on Saturdays. So that kind of forces us to process those cattle on a Friday, maybe a little quicker than we would've liked. And there's a lot of debate out there of whether waiting or not. But typically on our numbers, we do wait till Monday. The health tends to be a little worse. Yeah.
Matt:Then they'll spend how long in the yard before they'll go out to traps and on, onto grass, or does it depend on the time of year
Rich:Typically, uh, the cattle retain, are retained in their same group. You don't want to add anything to them for the, for 30 days and 30 days. We give'em a final round of vaccines and the first shot of black leg, we delay that to not have stress up front. And at day 30, they're, they're, they're sorted. They get through the, the, uh, vaccine and then kind of hold them for about two weeks or so. Another two weeks, and to observe and. Pull anything. And then at that point they're hauling out to grass. But we do have some smaller grass traps in 65 acres, uh, in right next to my starting lot. Right. And so the cattle are kind of getting adapted to being out in grass and it's a grazing situation and receiving some supplement and the cattle going on, going out to grass.
Matt:So basically a 45 day time that they'd been in the lot and then out to grass regardless of time of year. that wet DDG supplement, will you feed that through the summer when they've got green grass in front of'em as well?
Rich:Yeah, you know, we typically start about the middle of June and it's really no different than. Uh, range cubing cattle. Sure. But it's the very same practice and, uh, and such, but because you're using wet product, it's cheaper per unit of, so rather than giving'em one or two pounds of dry matter a day, you're, you're, you're giving'em A third of their diet, right? A third, a third of the total diet. And University of Nebraska has done a huge amount of research on this, and surprisingly it didn't make any difference if you were, Delaying or you're feeding it on good pasture or poor pasture, you got about the same gain response, which seems illogical, but it's solid, highly replicated research, and so we will typically start feeding in the middle of June in part because prior to that, yes, the grass is quite green, but also we're busy planting and spraying crops, and a lot of times the pastures are too wet to go out there. Mm-hmm. And then when we do feed, we're feeding with a, a conventional feed truck. Well, there are 900 cubic feet and they'll, they'll carry 20. 5,000 pounds. And so they'll carry a, that feed truck will, will carry a, a half a semi load of feed out there and it's the distillers and we mixed this, the supplement that has rumensin and the trace mineral mixed in with it and, and feeding out there. And that way, you know, the cattle are getting their mineral.
Matt:When you. You mentioned that Feed additive, not to make this a commercial for Rumensin, but I remember one time, and this was one of the first times I ever actually had a conversation with you. I had moved home and been back a couple years and we had a group of weaned calves of our own that we thought were Bulletproof, had great health, and they started getting sick on us and they kept getting sick on us. And just a, just a frustrating deal for a kid just getting back into the swing of things. And I talked to somebody, ended up being coccidiosis. Yeah. And I talked to somebody and they said, you know who you ought talk to is Rich Porter. He starts a lot of his high stress calves and he never talks about having a coccidia problem. And so I called you and uh, I don't know if you remember this, but your exact words to me were,"Matt, I love problems, that have a solution. And I have one." And, and you told me that day get 200 milligrams of Yeah. Resin in them daily and you will not see co acidosis issues. And you were right. And uh, you turned around though, and I, I think I called you a month or two later and maybe saw you at a meeting and I said, rich, I just, I can't thank you enough for giving me that suggestion.'cause it made all the difference in the world. And you said, well. Since I helped you, I need you to help me with the problem. Do you remember this?
Rich:I'm not pulling it up, but I'm 75 years old too. You go ahead Matt,
Matt:you said? Um, I've been trying to figure out. Why I can't get my cowboys to spend an hour working on fence before we turn cattle out, and then in turn have to spend a half day getting them back in and sorting'em up because that out the first time and I, I haven't figured that one out. Yeah. Yeah. That, that's an age old issue. I think that all of us, uh, me included sometimes. Yeah. But
Rich:I have solved that problem. Okay. When I have. Much more responsible employees here for the last 13 years, and, and so that, that has become less of one. But swinging back to Coccidiosis as preventative, we use, uh, a round of corid on arrival. Okay. The first, the first five days. And, uh, just as a, as a preventative and, and, uh, from all year round we do it. It takes a little while for the cattle to come up on intakes efficiently that they're getting enough Rumensin or BoviTeck; an ionophore for, to control it and such. And then the, sometimes when people are reluctant to use Rumensin on newer cattle concern, it might pull back intake a little bit. Right? And that, I, I don't think that's, uh, enough of an issue. I think it, of controlling co acidosis is far more important than if it would very slightly decrease intake.
Matt:So are you using that Corid as a crumble in the feed or are you putting it through the water?
Rich:Uh, we're using it as a crumble. Okay. Crumble top dressed on the feed for the first five days. Okay.
Matt:On that treatment level for Yes. Okay. Yeah. And then after that five days, you won't use a preventative level of it, you'll just let the Rumensin take care of that?
Rich:Correct. Okay. And, and, and the cattle are, are slowly ramping up on their adaption feed, so Yeah.
Matt:Well, well, I don't want to ask you to share all your trade secrets. No, but. For those that are in the stocker business and may be curious, what if you can, and share and are willing to share, what is your standard processing of those calves on, you know, day after arrival and from a vaccine standpoint, medication. What, what are you using there if you're willing to share?
Rich:Yeah. I, I certainly am. And whether I'm only have the top of my mind, I will get you our complete protocol. Okay. And, and, and also I might have you talk with my, uh, cattle foreman, Stephanie Anderson. Great. And she can talk you through and, and, and that way you can go ahead and get it, get it correctly. Okay. Yeah. But when the cattle. Arrive, well, one, we have a, a fantastic consulting veterinarian, Bob Smith. Mm-hmm. Who will be speaking here tonight. And then also a, a great local veterinarian. There's many great veterinarians, but the one we work with is Scott Gordon from Emporia. Yep. And so they can kind of help both outline our program, but we do use the modified live vaccine on arrival and we. Uh, mass treat, they're on, on arrival. Right. And, uh, uh, and such, so, uh, yeah. But, but the complete protocol, uh, Stephanie can give you that with precision.
Matt:Good. Good. Thank you. I'll try to get that and, and if I can put it in the notes here on the podcast, and people can look at that if they're, if they're, yeah. Interested the cattle that you've been buying. For the last 35 years, how have they, if at all, how have they changed? It sounds like the weight range is still pretty similar to what you've been buying for decades. Have the cattle themselves changed? Good, bad, indifferent, um, performance, uh, health hide color, you name it. What, what did it look like today compared to 1979?
Rich:Yes. The cattle have improved dramatically and that bought and, and. If people ever wonder if we've made improvements in the cattle industry, all you've gotta do is look at the bottom 20% of the cattle today is vastly better than the bottom 20%, 25 years ago. In fact, they may be, you know, somewhat comparable with the, the top 20%, 25 years ago in terms of, growth performance. And of course every, you know, most everybody's gone ahead and gone black. and even from the marbling, the genetics have been dramatically improved. That is the good news. The bad news is that animal health, by most metrics has gotten worse in terms of, uh, sickness and uh, mortality and. Nobody knows why. Some of the brighter, the people I trust a lot speculate that it may be that we have bred so much improvement into the cattle in terms of uh, how fast they will gain marble calving ease and and such. But we have not improved the lung size or the immune system. We don't know. But, and, and there haven't been any real new, real new classes of, of, uh, antibiotics,
Matt:Yeah. And that's a struggle. I mean, you, it doesn't matter if we're talking about feed yards even I'm hearing more cow calf and seed stock producers talk about the need to get at this health issue and, and figure out, uh, especially for those of you who are taking those calves and, and yearlings to the next level. And I even read a deal yesterday that was saying that colostrum has a large, amount of the blame and that poor colostrum, for whatever reason, is not setting that calf up early on to develop their organs and develop their immune function and even the fat reserves that they need those first few days of life. So yeah, you ask 10 different. Folks within the industry, why is it these cattle aren't as healthy as they used to be? And, and you may get 12 different answers it seems today, but it's something that a lot of us genetics providers all the way through feed yards are, are trying to figure out how to address and hopefully we can come to some
Rich:answers. It's great that people are looking at that. Both from an economic standpoint, but also reducing the, any pain and suffering from Yeah, animal welfare from that, from animal welfare, from that animal, from that animal welfare to do it. And uh, one example of an illustration of how health has gotten tougher was K State, uh, puts out a focus on feedlot publication each month of gains and cost of gain and mortality. And I saw a chart of that over the 25 years that they've had it and the, uh, death loss in feed loss is about doubled. Yeah. And we've had improvements of vaccine and antibiotics, but yet the death loss has creeped up. I even hear of people that have very high end, high performing in terms of gain and, percent choice in prime. Cattle of having deaths at finishing in, in some cases even toward the, toward the tail end. Yeah. But that has, has become what was hardly an issue. Has become a greater issue. But I, I do think of, you know, you know, of trying to figure out what. What we can do to improve the innate health of cattle is, is, is important.
Matt:Yeah. No doubt about it. For, for all the reasons that you just listed. Yeah. And I'm glad that folks are, are working on that and we'll continue to see, I think a, a industrywide effort in trying to address some of those concerns. This kind of goes along with that. A few years ago, you and I were talking about, uh, traceability and animal identification, and it was a big, discussion point, fight sometimes with in industry meetings and, and different places, and you kind of chuckled and said, well, I have a pretty good traceability program of my own. Tell us how you have been able to kind of see where cattle from certain regions and certain barns, maybe even certain buyers, how have you traced those cattle yourself and known maybe a little bit more about'em than, than what the average Joe knows about himself?
Yeah, and
Rich:my cattle foreman's very adept and so. When we receive these calves, typically one or two truckloads of calves each week for the nine months out of the year. But we tell the buyers to leave the sale barn identifying tags on them. And so when the cattle are going through to be branded and the first round of shots that, uh, and we record. The identification from the glue on back tag. Typically a three or four digit large number, then a smaller number that's identifies the specific sale barn. Mm-hmm. We put that into our computer along with the, uh, ear tag, uh, identification number, and so then we're able to, my. Cattle foreman, she's able to download the information from our computer program, put in D Excel, and then, and then work with the data. And so we, we sort it by sale barn or origination, and so we know the mortality. By individual sale barn. And then I provide that to my two cattle buyers. And so we can see which sale barns are having more health and, and, uh, more health troubles and better health. Uh, uh, and what happens to rich Porter's cattle is probably from the other customers. So they're very appreciative of getting that information. But another thing is, is that if, if we would have some. Terrible disease pop up one one of these things that you kind of squint your eyes at night and say, I hope I never see this. If that would come up, we would be able to cooperate with our full database, may mail made available to the whatever government agency was working with us, and so they would know precisely where that animal came from and they would know it came from Sale Barn XY in Georgia. On a certain day, on, on a certain date, uh, where it was, and that sail barn would know who brought the animal in, right? And so the, the animal health experts, they, they would be much better off ma able to track things on back. And another reason why started this program was when we were finishing cattle ourselves. If there should have been an illegal drug residue in one of our cattle, right. I would merely tell the governmental agencies. All of my veterinary products come from my, my veterinarian and my veterinary supplier. I'm releasing all my records of what's, of what's there. And oh, by the way, the animal with the illegal residue he was bought in. Timbuk two Alabama on thus and such a date.
Matt:Right. So you had the liability, you risk off.
Rich:Yeah, yeah, yeah. It, it would be off a little bit. And there was a couple of times something would happen, like, uh, day after the cattle arrived, two head that looked very similar. They were dead, you know, uh, uh, from new cattle and looked at their, uh, uh, sale barn, back tags, and they were sequential, meaning they came from the same farm, right? And so I told my buyer, I gave them that information, and they talked with the sale barn owner, and I said, tell them I'm not wanting one pennyback for the animal, but I'm wanting the sale barn owner to know that. Two head of cattle from them. They were dead the next day, right? And uh, and they were very appreciative. I didn't ask for what was going on, but I did hear the sale barn operator was extremely appreciative to have this information.
Matt:I got the opportunity to sit in on the Cattle Feeders Hall of Fame Awards, uh, back a month or so ago down in CBA. And, um, one of the folks that I visited with afterwards was talking about the fact, you know, everybody. Says that, nobody knows about, nobody will know about my cattle if I don't have RFID tag in it. Yeah. Or something like that. And he said, we know more about your cattle than you know about your cattle. And, uh, and there's a lot of truth in that, and I don't think we realize that, but he, just, like you said, from a liability standpoint, from just a, um, knowledge for the future of buying those cattle, you can, Do a lot of good for yourself to go and pay more for the ones that have worked and not maybe pay as much or not buy'em at all for the ones that don't.
Rich:Correct. And I'm gonna stuck my neck out about the whole thing about cattle id. Um, many other nations are doing this. And my personal opinion is if, if I'm not proud enough of the animals that I produce, that I'm willing to have my name or my identification so tracked back to me. Maybe I shouldn't be in the cattle business. Yeah. And, and if something would come up, I mean, I, I wouldn't go out and buy a pickup with no brand name, on it. Right. you know Ford, Chevy, they put their name on it. And, and they want to, you know, and they are, you know, they're willing to be held responsible for what they produced. Sure. And also with, uh, people say, well, I don't want people to know how many cattle I have. Well, my, my banker knows a hundred exactly how many cattle I have, and many of my neighbors could probably guess within 10% of how many cattle I have. So. If, if somebody chooses to have a different opinion, they, they're, they're totally entitled to that opinion. But I'm of the opinion that if I'm not proud enough to hold my head up and this is what I'm doing, I think I may ought to drop outta the cattle business. Yep.
Matt:I, I would agree. And after the last 10 or 12 years of drought, money and government Oh, yeah. And payments and things like that, rest assured Uncle Sam knows. Quite a little bit about how many cattle we do or don't have in the, in the beef industry today, whether we like it or not. tell us real quickly about your employees. You said you've got seven employees today. Yeah. Um, age. You know, I think it's really interesting the team that you've put together there at Porter Cattle Company.
Rich:Yeah. Uh, one employee's been with me nearly 40 years and he's now, he's foreman for most of those 40 years, and he's now, until he's got semi-retired and now they have a, a, a new foreman who's fantastic. And, uh, those seven people, the shortest tenure years about. Eight years. Okay. And, uh, so needless to say, they, they know their jobs far, far more than I do. And, and occasionally I'll start trying to explain when the next season hits and I'll start kind of explaining what we need to do and, and the employee will kind of look at me with a sly smile and I'll realize he knows more about that job than I do. That's true. So maybe I just let him go ahead and do his job. And for, for a variety of reasons have have probably been both lucky in hiring, you used to hire, you know, focus on hiring people that had experience, hardworking and would show up. And she'd pick up a lot of people that changed jobs every few months because everybody there was idiots, so they couldn't get along with them. And probably the, what I consider the most important is, you know, most important is safety. And second most important is that they can work productively with other people. And, uh, there's other job, details that that can be picked up. But if, if people are, if employees are encouraging and helpful toward each other rather than undercutting and demeaning, uh, let's just say. One, everybody's a lot happier. And two, the work gets done a whole lot better.
Matt:That's great. Uh, you have, you seem to have a well-oiled machine there, and I've only been there once or twice, but, uh, it was impressive to me. It, it, um, maybe was a little non-traditional workforce.
Rich:Well, I have, uh, uh, one female and two Hispanics. And such, so,
Matt:yeah. Well, I was just, I, I was impressed with your, foreman. Yeah. The
Rich:cattle foreman is a female. Yeah. Yeah.
Matt:And, and that's, that's a little different than what Yeah. Some of us would think of in a. Conventional traditional role. But I mean, she knew her stuff and everybody respected her and knew she knew her stuff. And it was, like I said, a well-oiled machine it looked like to me. and like yourself, was very curious and always wanting to learn something more. And that's what I appreciate. Um, you know, not just the, the smarts and the work ethic and the willingness to do the job, but also. Willingness to learn that we may be able to do it better tomorrow. Y
Rich:yeah, I, and all, all my employees are more dedicated and hardworking than I am. But, but, and something in the news a lot about, uh, DEI and yada, yada yada. My attitude is that I'm, I am wanting to hire. The best people available for the job, and it would make no sense for me to exclude anybody. Everybody comes in, they're, they're not hired because of, or excluded for anything about that individual person, race, gender, uh, or anything else. And so of course it makes sense to not exclude anybody.
Matt:Well, I think that sums up what you've done throughout the years at Porter Cattle Company and your life. I mean, so, so very well and. Here we are sitting. I, I believe that you told me that we're sitting in Dr. Dave Nichols office here at Kansas State Yes. At Dr. Don Good's desk. Correct. That Dave commandeered in the move. And, um, I'd say both of those gentlemen and those are household names amongst anybody that's been to a cattle exhibition or any BIF meetings or anything else. I'd say, in the presence of, of those greats, they would, echo that, sentiment. Mm-hmm. Mm-hmm. And, uh, appreciate everything that you've done. Correct.
Rich:And, and, and there's just a fantastic series of people of leadership at K State Animal Science professors and staff mm-hmm. And the students up here. So it's, uh, I, I feel incredibly blessed to be a part of the K state animal science.
Matt:Well, what a, what an honor to get to talk with you today as you receive this award from department animal science and, uh, yeah. Keep up the great work and, uh, we look forward to visiting again soon.
Rich:Matt, thank you so very much. You
Matt:bet. Thank you, rich.
Thanks for tuning in to Practically Ranching, brought to you by Dalebanks Angus. If you liked this show, share it with someone else, give us a five star review and a comment so we can keep cranking'em out. We still have a handful of private treaty bulls and April calving registered females for sale. So if you'd like information on any of these groups, email me at mattperrier@dalebanks.com. God bless you all. I look forward to visiting again soon.
