Full Transcript for David Schuler--Showcasing Morrill County and Nebraska to the World

wife are are state officers, so that's uh just normal for me. 00:05:09.920 --> 00:05:11.279 But yeah, she she loves it. 00:05:11.360 --> 00:05:21.519 She actually took Laney to work today uh trying to get some in-service, get the temporary sub planned out so we can uh have a little more parental leave here on the first part of the fall. 00:05:21.839 --> 00:05:25.360 You mentioned the interesting topography of Morrill County. 00:05:25.519 --> 00:05:30.240 Uh I until recently, last decade or so, had not spent a lot of time in Morrill County. 00:05:30.399 --> 00:05:34.160 Describe for our listeners, assume they've never been to Morrill County, what it looks like. 00:05:34.480 --> 00:05:36.160 Oh, I could have a lot of fun with this. 00:05:36.399 --> 00:05:43.040 Uh so basically it's the place in Nebraska where you go to visit, but you don't live. 00:05:43.920 --> 00:05:51.199 Uh you got your sand hills in the north part of it, basically the gateway to the sand hills of Nebraska on the northeast side. 00:05:51.279 --> 00:05:57.839 And then when you go southwest, you get into hard sandstone, uh hard grass country where our ranch is located. 00:05:57.920 --> 00:06:13.439 Um you get a mix of thorn and slivers uh near the rivers in the valleys, but you're mostly looking at the foothills of the high plains and sandstone monuments such as Chimney Rock, Corehouse and Galehouse Rock, Roundhouse Rock. 00:06:13.519 --> 00:06:23.759 Um, like I said, you're gonna go visit those things, but you're not gonna live here if you're uh anywhere you know east of the Mississippi River because it takes a little bit more to make a living. 00:06:23.839 --> 00:06:29.839 Uh the cost of living is cheap, but we also uh know that we have to have grit to live where we do. 00:06:30.160 --> 00:06:32.879 So Chimney Rock is a landmark of Nebraska. 00:06:33.040 --> 00:06:34.639 I think most people understand that. 00:06:34.800 --> 00:06:38.639 How how far are is some of your ranch properties from Chimney Rock? 00:06:39.439 --> 00:06:43.680 Well, fun fact, I grew up with Chimney Rock outside my window. 00:06:44.000 --> 00:06:44.639 Oh, seriously? 00:06:44.879 --> 00:06:45.680 Basically every day. 00:06:45.839 --> 00:06:47.279 I I thought that was normal. 00:06:47.439 --> 00:06:55.199 I didn't know how lucky I had it until I went to college and realized that people don't have those beautiful views all the time. 00:06:55.439 --> 00:07:02.639 Um but now on the ranch, we have our own point, Lang's Point, a prominent landmark as well, that I get to see every day now, too. 00:07:02.720 --> 00:07:15.680 So Jimmy Rock is just was part of my life and didn't realize how special it was until uh uh when people asked where I was from, I would just say, you know, Jimmy Rock, and then then that would uh allow them now where I lived anyway. 00:07:15.839 --> 00:07:20.800 So uh it gets kind of busy in the summer uh with uh tourists and campers and such. 00:07:20.879 --> 00:07:32.079 And then they just redid through some COVID funding a huge walkway in front of it now that's all paved, so you can go on walks, take your bike on, and actually looks like a state uh park now, which is pretty cool. 00:07:32.240 --> 00:07:41.279 I I actually knew the family who homesteaded it, the journals, um, and then they gifted that land and that rock to the state to put into a historical preservative society. 00:07:41.360 --> 00:07:47.600 So that's that was uh it's good cattle ground that they definitely uh got a pavement on now, but I think it's for the better. 00:07:48.160 --> 00:07:52.959 Is there anywhere you can see uh wagon ruts uh running through there still, David? 00:07:53.920 --> 00:07:59.439 There is a couple spots that they you know point at and say, hey, this is where the wagon ruts are. 00:08:00.399 --> 00:08:02.800 I guess I'll have to take their word for it. 00:08:04.399 --> 00:08:06.079 But yeah, there's still go ahead. 00:08:06.399 --> 00:08:10.639 Now, what's the biggest rattlesnake you've uh encountered and had to dispose of? 00:08:11.680 --> 00:08:15.519 Uh today or how about ever? 00:08:16.639 --> 00:08:17.519 Oh geez. 00:08:17.600 --> 00:08:19.519 Uh so I'm trying to make a clock. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:23.519 Uh so the rattles, every time they shed their skin, they gain another rattle. 00:08:23.680 --> 00:08:32.720 And I have I'm trying to make a clock of, you know, so if there's six rattles, that'd be six o'clock, and then you take or clock glue those onto the the hands of the clock. 00:08:32.879 --> 00:08:41.679 Uh I have all but one, uh, one or two rattles, because those are the hardest to find, and then they're also the most poisonous and dangerous, so they try not to find those. 00:08:41.759 --> 00:08:45.919 Um, but I've had a couple that are 13 and 14, which I don't know where I'm going to put those on the clock. 00:08:46.080 --> 00:08:54.159 So those are those are some old dogs that have found uh found a barn with a good mice, and they sit out for I don't know, seven or eight years. 00:08:54.320 --> 00:08:58.240 So uh but this year I've killed a 12 and an 11. 00:08:58.399 --> 00:09:02.080 So we've got the clock finished up, but it's been a good year for rattlesnakes for some reason. 00:09:02.320 --> 00:09:10.639 The biggest rattlesnake I've ever seen was in Morrill County, and uh uh rest assured he was on the black top and uh he did not live out the day. 00:09:10.799 --> 00:09:17.039 Um but even though he wasn't harming me at that point, I'm just like, I don't think I want you living anymore. 00:09:18.000 --> 00:09:21.039 We have a rule that we're never too busy to uh kill a rattlesnake. 00:09:21.200 --> 00:09:22.960 So that's kind of the mantra. 00:09:23.440 --> 00:09:26.799 Do you believe in the old tradition of cutting off the head and burying it? 00:09:27.600 --> 00:09:28.960 Well, yes, obviously. 00:09:29.120 --> 00:09:36.159 You would uh cut the head off, you bury it, and then the the second most important thing is you throw

the dead buddy off the road so the next guy doesn't stop because he thinks he's gonna be able to get it. 00:09:36.240 --> 00:09:36.559 Yeah, correct. 00:09:36.960 --> 00:09:38.399 That happens too. 00:09:38.960 --> 00:09:40.720 But yeah, that's very important to bury the head. 00:09:40.799 --> 00:09:43.679 You don't want to have any any problems in the future of stepping on it. 00:09:43.759 --> 00:09:50.159 So speaking of uh never being too busy, I know that you and your family are very busy with your operation. 00:09:50.399 --> 00:09:57.279 Give us a little the innovation and techniques uh maybe that you guys are deploying on your ranch and and what makes you guys special. 00:09:57.600 --> 00:09:58.639 Thanks for asking. 00:09:58.720 --> 00:10:08.639 Uh I I love any chance I can to share what we're doing and and and uh I I get the best views and and the best job in the world every day. 00:10:08.799 --> 00:10:16.000 So getting to share that and what we do to allow our ranch to continue on the future and our customers' future is is the most important part. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:22.799 So like I said, we we sell around 160 red Angus and the red Angus Central bulls a year uh at our out of sale. 00:10:22.960 --> 00:10:24.960 We sell 200 overall throughout the year. 00:10:25.039 --> 00:10:52.720 If you have problems with your bulls or or need more uh bull power, we always have some available, as well as fall bread heifers commercially available as well, trying to sell our genetics and and with 40 now years of of decision making on our genetics, AI and uh replacements and such, uh, we have this good genetic pool that I hope our customers trust ourselves with uh to help their own herds. 00:10:53.039 --> 00:11:03.440 And my main goal as a SeasOC producer is those commercial producers who have their family ranches who want to see their bottom dollar increase, to see their efficiency increase. 00:11:03.679 --> 00:11:11.519 And I have to ask myself the question what do I do to help their financial being so the ranch can move on to their children and their next generations? 00:11:11.919 --> 00:11:26.639 So, what can I do more than just them trusting us with our genetics beyond the ultrasounding on the on the ribeye areas on our bulls or semen testing or uh genetic markers that we could always are trying to be on the front end of? 00:11:26.960 --> 00:11:32.559 Uh I'm part of a bigger plan with a couple other seed stock producers across the Midwest. 00:11:32.720 --> 00:11:44.480 We we like to say that around 10 to 20 percent of the seed stock Angus red angus cattle that we can have our foot uh footprint on to uh basically you know strengthen numbers. 00:11:44.720 --> 00:12:05.519 So we're going to, as our ranch and other ranches across the Midwest, we're going to these SP 500 companies and say, here is our genetics, here is the ribeye areas, the marbling, the great tasting steak that we've always been able to uh to give to our customers in the in the freezer,

in the freezers at big grocery stores. 00:12:05.759 --> 00:12:11.759 But what we're gonna do is create a market chain that our customers can get grab value from. 00:12:12.000 --> 00:12:21.360 So for one, we go to these companies and we say we have, let's say, X amount of steers on feed that we're only going to sell to you for a market price. 00:12:21.519 --> 00:12:33.759 And two, you're gonna get the story of these producers that know that they take care of their animals, they give them the best nutrition possible from pasture plate to consumption to consumption, the best possible life. 00:12:34.159 --> 00:12:35.600 And people want that. 00:12:36.080 --> 00:12:41.039 They're going to pay more for that story and for that quality of meat. 00:12:41.120 --> 00:12:52.960 And we're in a very interesting spot in our in our industry as a whole, that the more prime steaks we put out at restaurants and in freezers and big stores, the more our customers want it. 00:12:53.120 --> 00:12:59.279 You know, it used to usually, you know, it would be a uh it's like a squeeze almost where we can't produce enough. 00:12:59.360 --> 00:13:03.919 Even at these high prices, we cannot produce enough uh prime rib-by steaks. 00:13:04.639 --> 00:13:24.480 So we're on these producers creating this market chain for these S ⁇ P 500 companies that they that they can share our story with, that have the pounds that they can put their foot on, and then that money will then go in a market to our customers who sell steers at the Olala auction barn or in Sugar Valley Stockyards in Scotts Bluff or Torrington Livestock Market. 00:13:24.639 --> 00:13:28.399 That's where we need to see the increase in money to those cats. 00:13:28.799 --> 00:13:33.279 And if I can do that for my customers, then I know that I'm I'm doing things right. 00:13:33.360 --> 00:13:38.399 You know, it's it's not about my bottom dollar, it's about the bottom dollars of my customers who are buying my bulls and heifers. 00:13:38.480 --> 00:13:48.000 So that was a little bit more than you probably wanted, but that's that's kind of what goes I wake up thinking about and go to bed thinking about right now in our industry and our ranch, what we're trying to do. 00:13:48.320 --> 00:13:51.519 What is your set date for your bull sale every year? 00:13:52.320 --> 00:13:58.159 We always have our bull sale on the fourth Thursday in March, uh, ever since its conception. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:03.279 Uh and yeah, so that'd been 44 years now coming up this next year. 00:14:03.600 --> 00:14:07.279 So Morrill County's a fairly dry county compared to eastern Nebraska. 00:14:07.440 --> 00:14:09.519 What are the conditions like this year? 00:14:11.200 --> 00:14:13.600 You know, I think most of the states are doing a lot better. 00:14:13.759 --> 00:14:16.720 We're I we're always pretty glass half full. 00:14:16.879 --> 00:14:18.639 No pun intended when it comes to water. 00:14:18.720 --> 00:14:28.240 It seems like uh someone said the other day, we would live in a desert if it if we weren't under uh freezing snow conditions eight months of the year, which is probably true. 00:14:28.559 --> 00:14:32.720 Uh we're looking at around 10 inches on the ranch, and that's fine. 00:14:32.799 --> 00:14:33.840 We can live off that. 00:14:34.080 --> 00:14:37.679 We can get to 14, that's probably historically average. 00:14:37.840 --> 00:14:42.080 Um, I grew up in a drought for geez 10, 20 years, so I I never really saw that. 00:14:42.240 --> 00:14:43.759 But our land's used to it. 00:14:43.919 --> 00:14:58.799 We our our grasses and our and the and the cellulose that our cows live off of, that basically grows for only a few months of the year in May and June, and the rest of the year it dies off and and basically waits around for next year. 00:14:59.039 --> 00:15:00.639 So I I I think we're all right. 00:15:00.720 --> 00:15:05.360 You know, it's it's it's just a never-ending glass, half-empty kind of escapade. 00:15:05.759 --> 00:15:10.799 Speaking of uh your customers and your bull sale, I've been in your uh sale barn. 00:15:10.879 --> 00:15:21.039 Uh why don't you tell us a little bit about the decor in there and uh where the furthest uh furthest customer is represented from in there? 00:15:21.360 --> 00:15:24.399 Just basically people come to the sale, they want a piece of the ranch. 00:15:24.480 --> 00:15:25.919 They want a they want an experience. 00:15:26.000 --> 00:15:29.200 So we want to share where our ranch has been and where we're going. 00:15:29.440 --> 00:15:33.039 So on those walls, there's fly nets instead of chemicals on cattle. 00:15:33.279 --> 00:15:41.200 We would use fly nets on cattle and horses uh who are pulling oxen, who are working the land to keep the keep the flies off of them. 00:15:41.279 --> 00:15:47.120 And those fly nets came from my grandfather's or great-grandfather's still word Kimball, still have the tags on them. 00:15:47.279 --> 00:15:49.120 I think they're like three dollars a piece. 00:15:49.440 --> 00:15:54.879 And then there's also a whole team of TAC for mules who would plow the land. 00:15:55.039 --> 00:16:02.960 Um the where our ranch came from, Olson ranch is in Banner County, um, where my great-grandfather made a stake for a claim. 00:16:03.120 --> 00:16:11.759 They had 16 teams of horses to work the land, and we have one of those uh full team of tack on the wall. 00:16:12.000 --> 00:16:14.559 Uh but basically just shares like the history of the ranch. 00:16:14.639 --> 00:16:19.279 You know, I I can go into that deeper here in a second, but want to share that we've been doing this a long time. 00:16:19.600 --> 00:16:23.840 What do your customers leave uh their mark on that barn when they come? 00:16:24.720 --> 00:16:30.000 Yeah, so they get to put their mark on with a brand, and there's a whole wall of brands. 00:16:30.080 --> 00:16:33.919 Uh let's say bought a bull or heifer or genetics, uh, they brand the wall. 00:16:34.000 --> 00:16:42.000

We we then label it with their name underneath it, and they can be a part of the basically put their stamp on on our wall and and be a part of it. 00:16:42.399 --> 00:16:44.080 Give us the history on the ranch. 00:16:44.480 --> 00:16:44.960 Wow. 00:16:45.200 --> 00:16:50.080 So uh this is my favorite part is learning about this history of the ranch. 00:16:50.399 --> 00:17:08.000 We have been on the land since the 1950s from my great-grandfather, uh, but but but in the 1880s, uh family of brother-in-laws, Guy Lang and Hank Rayton, who were gold prospectors in California, would go around the tip of South America to California and back to New York City. 00:17:08.160 --> 00:17:20.960 And one time they went across uh the plains and stopped in Sydney, which was probably just a railroad town or start of a railroad town, and they were told about some land north of there that would be good cattle rangeland with no no other buyers. 00:17:21.119 --> 00:17:25.039 You can run the run the cows there, no barbed wire, uh, if you can make it. 00:17:25.279 --> 00:17:32.880 So they quit doing the uh the gold cleaning industry and they they were businessmen and started the the ranch. 00:17:33.359 --> 00:17:38.640 Between North Platte and Laramie, Wyoming, it was the first ranch settled in the panhandle. 00:17:38.799 --> 00:17:41.440 So that was a a huge endeavor for them. 00:17:41.519 --> 00:18:01.039 They built a log house that still stands to this day underneath Langs Point, and uh it's probably 160 feet long, and it's got like eight rooms in it all in a row, and that's where they would bunk the cowboys who would work the land, built a barn that still stands today that's on the headquarters, and basically ran cattle on the creek there. 00:18:01.200 --> 00:18:10.960 And if you controlled the water, which that's where the water started for the for the ranch, and then it ended near the little village of Reddington now, which named after him obviously, they controlled that. 00:18:11.039 --> 00:18:15.119 So they'd run on 30 to 40,000 acres of just free range. 00:18:15.599 --> 00:18:31.839 And they'd raise horses as well, um, but probably more famous for helping with their friend Buffalo Bill Cody, who wanted to start up a Wild West show because people in the eastern part of the United States wanted to see, you know, the whole circumstances and uh show of cowboying. 00:18:32.000 --> 00:18:51.279 So in Chicago, they had their first show outside the fairgrounds because it was too expensive to do in the fairgrounds, so they just rented their own spot outside of town during the Chicago fair, and they helped finance Buffalo Bills Cody's first show as a friend uh friendly thing to do, and they used horses off this ranch to make that happen. 00:18:51.599 --> 00:19:01.119 And at like two to three cents at the gate fee, after a couple shows, they paid it all off, and then the rest of history, Buffalo Bill Cody started having his shows all over. 00:19:01.440 --> 00:19:06.400 Um,

but it all started with Guiling and Hank Reddington helping the friend out, which is really cool history. 00:19:06.480 --> 00:19:10.880 I always thought that was a wise tale, but we find more and more history all the time talking about that. 00:19:11.440 --> 00:19:16.720 So despite a very rich tradition and history on the ranch, you're also very innovative. 00:19:16.880 --> 00:19:24.000 You've mentioned a couple of those things, but I recently came across a story involving some test plots you're doing relative to cheat grass. 00:19:24.319 --> 00:19:26.720 One, can you explain what cheatgrass is? 00:19:26.799 --> 00:19:32.079 Something I didn't learn about until the past decade, and two, what you're doing uh to try and address it. 00:19:32.640 --> 00:19:33.200 Yeah. 00:19:33.359 --> 00:19:39.839 Uh again, our our ranch has always prided itself on being on the front end of technology, not afraid to try new things. 00:19:40.160 --> 00:19:49.279 And um on that same note, we were the first folks in Morrill County to have a pivot back in the the sixties and seventies. 00:19:49.920 --> 00:19:59.680 So it's it's always, you know, so simple to us now, but back then to pull water out of the ground and put it in a circle, that uh that was that was a huge undertaking. 00:20:00.319 --> 00:20:03.200 Um, and that continues on today with this cheatgrass study. 00:20:03.279 --> 00:20:15.519 So cheat grass is um my wife is gonna kill me for not knowing the actual name of cheat grass, but basically this grass in Western Nebraska, Western panhandle, loves our small window for rain and then it dies immediately. 00:20:15.599 --> 00:20:19.039 Unlike the first day of June, it just knows like a Christmas cactus. 00:20:19.440 --> 00:20:31.200 And it has no nutritional value to the cattle, it's a huge fire problem and gets in the calves' eyes so easily with all the seeds it has in its head, has no use to a farmer rancher whatsoever. 00:20:31.519 --> 00:20:32.960 And it's from Eurasia. 00:20:33.119 --> 00:21:01.680 Um I think our our land is pretty similar to uh near like uh Turkey area, and it just came over here, it's uh not a native species, and they finally figured out a this product called Redrubera, uh made by Enview, of the ability to allow that seed to be dormant for five years when we spray it in the fall and allow the native grasses to come back in and repopulate that ground. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:11.680 And as long as you have some native grasses underneath that cheat grass swath that is suffocating it, um, it'll be able to to um live again, basically. 00:21:11.839 --> 00:21:27.599 So where we've done some sprays in our pastures, it looks like there's a runaway in the middle of our pasture where it's still green here in now August, where the cheat grass around it that wasn't sprayed, it looks terrible because it just has no value to the rangeland and the cattle can't graze it. 00:21:27.839 --> 00:21:39.920 And the cows will find themselves laying down on that green grass, eating that green grass, almost to an issue where they're almost putting too much pressure on it because they're just so thankful you're not have cheat grass underneath their hooves. 00:21:40.319 --> 00:21:47.920 So we're trying to, you know, uh educate folks in our area, putting on workshops on our ranch, sharing this data. 00:21:48.160 --> 00:22:01.039 We want our our neighbors and our customers to see this, and it's it's roughly$60 an acre, but they're we're still working with government relations to make funding available through cost share projects to cut that in half. 00:22:01.200 --> 00:22:12.240 And I and Wyoming's doing an incredible job with this, where I mean the governor even says this is this is the best thing that Wyoming's doing right now is this rejuvener product to get this invasive species out of it. 00:22:12.400 --> 00:22:14.799 So we're hoping we can get that going here in Nebraska too. 00:22:15.119 --> 00:22:17.200 Let's boomerang back a little bit to tradition. 00:22:17.359 --> 00:22:18.960 I assume you do a spring branding. 00:22:19.039 --> 00:22:21.680 How many folks does that take to make it happen? 00:22:22.880 --> 00:22:23.920 You want to come out? 00:22:24.319 --> 00:22:24.640 I do. 00:22:24.720 --> 00:22:30.640 You know, I've I've actually never been to a a branding, even though I serve as legal counsel to the Nebraska Brand Committee. 00:22:30.799 --> 00:22:32.880 I've never actually been to a branding. 00:22:33.599 --> 00:22:36.799 Yeah, we got that should be that should be mandatory. 00:22:37.359 --> 00:22:38.240 Correct. 00:22:39.519 --> 00:22:41.440 Yeah, we'll take all the help we can get. 00:22:41.519 --> 00:22:46.799 We we take the the Saturday after the bull sale in March when everyone's helping with the bull sale. 00:22:46.880 --> 00:22:49.119 We don't let them go home that weekend, we put them to work as well. 00:22:49.200 --> 00:22:59.359 So if we get 20 to 25 people, we rope and drag um to the to the fire and and brand about 400, 500 calves that weekend, and then a month later we'll do that again. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:02.079 Uh so a lot of fun getting all those people out there. 00:23:02.240 --> 00:23:10.319 A little hectic at times, but uh obviously, you know, if you're not if you don't do it right, if you don't do the wrestling numbers right, they chap you like they do in Texas. 00:23:10.400 --> 00:23:13.039 So we'll get you taught up, Mark. 00:23:13.119 --> 00:23:14.160 You'll do it, you'll do a good job. 00:23:14.400 --> 00:23:18.400 You know, uh I read somewhere, kind of an agritourism uh element. 00:23:18.559 --> 00:23:24.960 Yeah, you're a stereo entrepreneur, so think about this that you could have an Eastern or city folk like myself actually come out. 00:23:25.119 --> 00:23:27.440 I would pay you to allow me to do that. 00:23:27.519 --> 00:23:31.680 You get free labor, granted you have to babysit me and make sure I don't do anything stupid, but think about that. 00:23:31.759 -->

00:23:34.160 That may be another business opportunity for you. 00:23:34.640 --> 00:23:36.960 Yeah, I'll have to talk to my dad about that. 00:23:37.200 --> 00:23:42.880 We can probably handle handle one of those at a time, mainly for liability issues. 00:23:42.960 --> 00:23:45.039 But I think I've pulled specs in the suit too. 00:23:45.119 --> 00:23:55.359 I've always, always dreamed of uh having the the Nebraska delegation out there for branding because they always want a good photo op and um become pretty close with uh Congressman Smith. 00:23:55.440 --> 00:24:06.160 So I'd have him out there help me get the crew out there, get Don Bacon on the back legs, and uh then we'll then we'll just uh get Deb Fisher with a hot iron and then we'll be branding Governor Pillen. 00:24:06.319 --> 00:24:07.039 It'll work out really well. 00:24:07.359 --> 00:24:13.519 You know, Senator Ricketts likes throwing on his wife, apparently told him he looks cute and or hot, I think is her word, in a cowboy hat. 00:24:13.599 --> 00:24:16.720 So you get the cowboy hat on Pete and a horse, he'll be out there too. 00:24:17.839 --> 00:24:18.880 Yeah, thanks for that. 00:24:19.039 --> 00:24:20.960 That's yeah, thanks for that visual. 00:24:24.640 --> 00:24:25.680 No, that'd be great. 00:24:25.759 --> 00:24:30.240 No, I just always want to share the ranch, so any chance I can do it, I'm I'm up for it. 00:24:30.559 --> 00:24:42.400 Speaking of sharing the ranch, uh maybe one of the things that you've gone most viral with uh in the last few years is your cattle art, uh, something that the uh viewership has uh anticipates every year. 00:24:42.559 --> 00:24:49.839 Can you tell us a little bit about one, what that is, and and then tell us how you came up with the idea and and where you find your inspiration? 00:24:50.799 --> 00:24:56.319 Yeah, so I always wanted to find a way to market the ranch uh that was different than the average way, I guess. 00:24:56.400 --> 00:24:58.079 And I got a drone for Christmas. 00:24:58.160 --> 00:25:02.559 I oh jeez, I may have been in high school at the time when I got my first drone. 00:25:02.799 --> 00:25:18.000 And I always saw photos of people disking art into their farming ground, and I always told myself, even at a very young age, I was gonna make our brand with our cattle uh by putting the feedstuffs that they love to eat on the ground, and then in the shape of our fiddleback brand. 00:25:18.160 --> 00:25:21.759 So, you know, technology changes, and then we have this drone technology. 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:27.599 So I knew exactly from the day I got that drone I was going to create what they say is cattle art. 00:25:27.759 --> 00:25:31.680 So the first couple years in college, I'd make on Christmas like our brand. 00:25:31.759 --> 00:25:34.400 Obviously, that was the number one thing I always wanted to do. 00:25:34.720 --> 00:25:44.559 And it got a little bit of some uh some viral notes, it wasn't anything too special, probably because I

wasn't as good of an artist on the first try or so. 00:25:44.960 --> 00:25:45.839 Were you married yet? 00:25:46.079 --> 00:25:46.880 I I was not. 00:25:47.039 --> 00:25:49.359 Okay, single as a Pringle, yeah. 00:25:49.519 --> 00:25:58.400 So I I was I I wanted a way to promote the ranch and share the ranch that was different, and I thought this is the way to do it, so I'll just keep at it. 00:25:58.480 --> 00:26:12.079 And I would do things like make a heart and on Valentine's Day and then make the ad that said, you know, uh, your cows will love Schuler Bulls, bull sale March 27th, you know, at the ranch and and and try to market that way. 00:26:12.240 --> 00:26:15.039 And I kept getting a little more following, more and more following. 00:26:15.119 --> 00:26:29.200 So if I back up a little bit here, I would the cows are on winter stocks when I do this, and they they feed them a silage ration for the nutritional requirements, and they they will just line up in any shape that I want to to feed them in. 00:26:29.359 --> 00:26:32.640 So when you're feeding a thousand cows on stocks, you can you have some options. 00:26:32.799 --> 00:26:38.640 I learned I can do about four letters, so I did beef, it's what's for Christmas dinner, uh, on Facebook. 00:26:38.720 --> 00:26:43.839 Uh, posted that, and Governor Ricketts at the time shared it, uh then governor, on his governor page. 00:26:43.920 --> 00:26:45.359 And I was like, well, that's pretty cool. 00:26:45.440 --> 00:26:48.400 Let's uh let's think like this is something unique. 00:26:48.480 --> 00:26:53.440 I I don't think I I've seen other people try to do it, but I don't I think I I got this here. 00:26:53.519 --> 00:26:55.279 I I should continue on in this. 00:26:55.440 --> 00:27:00.799 And then and then COVID hit, obviously, uh, in 2020 and and 2021 Christmas. 00:27:00.880 --> 00:27:02.720 So every Christmas I post another video. 00:27:02.799 --> 00:27:10.079 Uh that's when it really took off because I put made a EKG out of the cows, and then a heart in the EKG. 00:27:10.480 --> 00:27:12.640 And you can also look it up if you want to see what it look like. 00:27:13.039 --> 00:27:13.599 Oh, I've seen it. 00:27:13.680 --> 00:27:14.079 I've seen it. 00:27:14.480 --> 00:27:16.160 Um from yeah, yeah. 00:27:16.240 --> 00:27:21.440 So on the background, from the backbone of America to the heartbeat of America, we thank you for your service. 00:27:21.599 --> 00:27:29.359 Those nurses, those doctors, first responders who were going through such such hard times and and and the stresses they had to go through. 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:32.240 Um I wanted to note that we are thinking of them. 00:27:32.400 --> 00:27:38.079 And I posted that video and and post on Christmas, and that just blew up. 00:27:38.319 --> 00:27:40.480 It was it was shared across the world. 00:27:40.559 --> 00:27:51.359 From I had people commenting on that status from Germany, from Argentina, Brazil, basically all the big cities in America, and they're saying, hey, we see this, thank you to agriculture. 00:27:51.440 --> 00:27:56.480 You know, you know, we I'm going to go on my night shift for 48 hours through Christmas right now. 00:27:56.640 --> 00:27:58.559 Thank you for recognizing us. 00:27:58.720 --> 00:28:04.559 And that kind of hit home because I finally got out of the echo chamber of agriculture and got out to those who I wanted to see it. 00:28:04.799 --> 00:28:11.440 And uh did some did some media with that with ABC News, and then the next thing you know, it was on ABC News this morning. 00:28:11.759 --> 00:28:23.119 On Christmas morning, they played it on all their local channels, that article or that news uh I basically just did a call on my way to my in-laws and basically a truck stop in North Platte. 00:28:23.200 --> 00:28:27.359 And next thing you know, it's being played in New York City, Miami, California. 00:28:27.839 --> 00:28:33.359 Uh and uh ABC News This Morning plays at like five o'clock in the morning in Mountain Time. 00:28:33.519 --> 00:28:38.480 But fun fact, the only person I knew that seen it was your dad, Spencer. 00:28:38.720 --> 00:28:45.680 He texted me at like five in the morning, said, Hey, just saw your your your EKG heart on Catalart on online. 00:28:46.160 --> 00:28:47.839 So that was on the news. 00:28:48.079 --> 00:28:50.559 So that that kind of was like, okay, now I'm dedicated. 00:28:50.640 --> 00:28:54.000 People want this on Christmas, they're excited for it, and I kept it going. 00:28:54.079 --> 00:28:56.400 So I did an apple for teachers the next year. 00:28:56.480 --> 00:29:00.640 You know, thank you for your work in this in this trying times of COVID. 00:29:00.880 --> 00:29:04.640 And obviously my wife is a teacher, so that was near and dear to my heart. 00:29:04.799 --> 00:29:08.480 People were commenting, his wife must be a teacher, he must be in trouble. 00:29:08.559 --> 00:29:09.759 He's trying to make up for it. 00:29:10.079 --> 00:29:24.640 Fun fact, Christy Christy then responded to that that that tweet that went viral and said, actually you did all right, and I got engaged to her like two days after that, and I had the cows spell out yes because I wanted her to know what the cows thought she should say. 00:29:24.880 --> 00:29:25.440 Oh, that's awesome. 00:29:25.759 --> 00:29:27.039 I'll think about it was too many letters. 00:29:27.119 --> 00:29:29.359 The cows didn't know how to spell all those words. 00:29:29.759 --> 00:29:31.839 So, how many practice rounds do you have to do? 00:29:33.200 --> 00:29:37.119 I I just I I never I never have to repeat it. 00:29:37.200 --> 00:29:38.799 I I always get it on the first try. 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:40.319 Don't ask me why. 00:29:40.720 --> 00:29:45.680 But I I I've been able to do it right the first time, God willing, uh, so far on all of them. 00:29:46.000 --> 00:29:49.440 So have you done any that you did and you're like, yeah, I'm not using that. 00:29:50.720 -->

00:29:51.920 You gotta share one, right? 00:29:52.079 --> 00:29:53.119 No, I think No? 00:29:53.359 --> 00:29:54.240 Well, yeah. 00:29:54.559 --> 00:29:58.799 I think I've I've used all of them, I think, that I've I've made. 00:29:58.960 --> 00:30:00.960 All of them have, like I said, made it out the first try. 00:30:01.039 --> 00:30:02.319 I I did one for FNBO. 00:30:02.400 --> 00:30:04.720 That was the most nerve-wracking by the bank that I use. 00:30:04.880 --> 00:30:08.880 And uh they have the Circle One, obviously, logo, and they came out with the whole crew. 00:30:08.960 --> 00:30:16.720 Uh that was the first time I guess I I sold it for media, but they had a commercial that played during the Super Bowl uh regionally in the Midwest. 00:30:16.799 --> 00:30:23.200 And my cows were the main part of that Super Bowl ad, you know, me drawing it, and they had a whole crew out here and got a photo of it. 00:30:23.279 --> 00:30:27.119 And they came out on a Friday, and the producer said, if you don't get it, we're going home. 00:30:27.200 --> 00:30:30.960 Like, we're only paid to be out here for three days, and this is the last day we're out here. 00:30:31.119 --> 00:30:32.799 So uh good luck. 00:30:33.039 --> 00:30:34.720 And no one had any faith in me. 00:30:34.799 --> 00:30:36.640 I was like, this is nerve-wracking as hell. 00:30:36.720 --> 00:30:42.240 And uh anyway, made the shape and I get back to the office, and the video crew was like, We had no faith in you. 00:30:42.400 --> 00:30:43.039 That was incredible. 00:30:43.200 --> 00:30:48.000 Like they they they totally thought that was just a whole bunch of baloney, these guys from California that are out here videoing. 00:30:48.480 --> 00:30:50.559 So that was that was pretty gratifying. 00:30:50.799 --> 00:30:55.200 Do you fence the cattle off and then you go out and lay out your shape and then let them run in? 00:30:56.079 --> 00:30:58.240 Yeah, so definitely art form to it. 00:30:58.400 --> 00:31:04.079 Uh they're waiting for you at the gate, and it's so hard to draw when there's a thousand ants. 00:31:04.319 --> 00:31:07.359 There's a thousand ants just around your tractor, you can't even see what you're drawing. 00:31:07.440 --> 00:31:11.680 So I always go in a different gate, and they're all mad at me because obviously I've gone a different way. 00:31:11.759 --> 00:31:14.319 But the key is to get it all done before they get there. 00:31:14.480 --> 00:31:23.759 Uh, and uh yeah, from there I've geez, I've I did a baby cradle this last year to share that the ranch was expecting the fourth generation to come on the ranch. 00:31:23.920 --> 00:31:25.440 Uh that worked out well. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:32.799 And uh I did a present with a with a frost in the middle of it, you know, for the reasons of the season for Christmas. 00:31:33.039 --> 00:31:36.640 And I made the word joy incursive for Christmas once before. 00:31:36.799 --> 00:31:39.759 So uh meal of stay, I'm starting to run out of ideas. 00:31:39.839 --> 00:31:43.519 So if you two have any uh great ideas for this next Christmas, I'm all ears. 00:31:44.000 --> 00:31:47.039 Too many letters in Spencer or Rembelto or Ludke. 00:31:47.119 --> 00:31:49.279 So uh we'll have to come up with something shorter. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:51.920 We could do 93 or R L. 00:31:52.160 --> 00:31:52.480 Yeah, yeah. 00:31:54.240 --> 00:31:55.359 Do you always target Christmas? 00:31:56.400 --> 00:31:58.480 Is Christmas your target for doing the the big one? 00:31:58.720 --> 00:32:04.319 It seemed well now some people are texting me wondering where it's at, so I uh I have to be ready for it. 00:32:04.400 --> 00:32:09.359 So yeah, it's people are ready for Christmas, and I know that I could have taken a hold of that. 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:16.079 Like when things go trending like they do, uh that's a perfect opportunity for me to like continue on with it. 00:32:16.240 --> 00:32:17.279 But I knew my place. 00:32:17.440 --> 00:32:30.559 I knew that ranching was the number one thing and marketing the second, so I decided I'm only gonna do this on Christmas or special occasions, and uh because I think the cows would get tired of me by by June if I kept doing that. 00:32:30.799 --> 00:32:34.559 But and I yeah, I guess Christmas is when it when it always happens. 00:32:34.880 --> 00:32:37.680 I assume people just email you ideas, right? 00:32:38.559 --> 00:32:41.920 Uh it's yeah, but they're not good ideas. 00:32:42.240 --> 00:32:43.839 Yeah, I know I I'm well aware of that. 00:32:43.920 --> 00:32:49.839 That that that doesn't surprise me, but uh people are not uh scared to share their thoughts on what you should be doing. 00:32:50.720 --> 00:32:52.319 Yeah, no, I I love it. 00:32:52.400 --> 00:32:58.319 I I I just tell people that the cows are actually in that shape when they get there with the feed wagon, and I just put the feed in there. 00:32:58.799 --> 00:33:00.640 I mean, I They're trained. 00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:02.079 Yeah. 00:33:02.480 --> 00:33:03.839 Because people ask me, like, how do you do it? 00:33:03.839 --> 00:33:06.480 I'm like, honestly, the cows let me know where they're where they're at. 00:33:06.640 --> 00:33:09.440 And the best part is the comment section when those things go viral. 00:33:09.599 --> 00:33:14.880 So that one had like 40,000 comments of the EKG, and there's like two cows that are out of place. 00:33:14.960 --> 00:33:17.680 They're like walking over to another plate of grass or something. 00:33:17.920 --> 00:33:22.880 And the comment section is like zoomed in on that cow that says, we definitely cold that cow this year. 00:33:23.680 --> 00:33:25.680 Yeah, they not get in line. 00:33:26.559 --> 00:33:28.240 So you're really busy, right? 00:33:28.319 --> 00:33:31.519 You you're running the ranch, you're a new dad, you're a husband. 00:33:31.759 --> 00:33:36.960 It's my understanding you're pretty active in a number of organizations, including Nebraska Farm Bureau or

the Local Farm Bureau. 00:33:37.039 --> 00:33:39.279 Tell us what other organizations you're involved in. 00:33:39.519 --> 00:33:43.920 Yeah, it's a full-time job uh being a rancher and and making it work. 00:33:44.079 --> 00:33:50.319 Um part of that is being involved in our community and sharing our name that's out there. 00:33:50.400 --> 00:33:56.559 I firmly believe that you gotta put out as much as you give in and uh be a part of it on the local level. 00:33:56.720 --> 00:34:04.720 So the Nebraska Morrill County cattlemen, um the president of the VAT at the moment, got a really good group, uh solid group of folks that continue that on. 00:34:04.799 --> 00:34:08.400 We're one of the few uh cattle groups that have our own county affiliate. 00:34:08.559 --> 00:34:11.599 We're really proud of that here in Morrill County and want to continue that. 00:34:11.760 --> 00:34:19.440 Um the we're full master right now or Masonic Lodge, Camp Clark Lodge here in in uh Morrill County as well in Bridgeport. 00:34:19.920 --> 00:34:26.320 And uh just I love that fraternal secrets in the organization and and and building myself to be a better man. 00:34:26.400 --> 00:34:29.679 Uh so that's that's uh near and dear to my heart as well. 00:34:29.920 --> 00:34:35.920 And then obviously the Nebraska Farm Bureau with the Young Farmers and Ranchers Committee that I just got off of. 00:34:36.000 --> 00:34:46.480 Um met some really great people and and I want people to know that Shula Ridengus and our family, my dad is on the actual the Nebraska Beef Council at the moment as well. 00:34:46.719 --> 00:34:58.880 So we we want to be a part of this solution of feeding the world, no matter how that looks, whether that's in our community, in the state, or nationally, we're gonna be a part of it, and we're not going anywhere. 00:34:58.960 --> 00:35:02.559 Um, and and a big part of that is being involved in our communities. 00:35:03.039 --> 00:35:06.800 David, something we ask all of our guests, and you only get one word. 00:35:07.039 --> 00:35:12.239 What is the one word that to you best describes this great place in which you were born and raised? 00:35:12.480 --> 00:35:19.920 You currently run Schuler Red Angus, you served as a state FFA officer, you are now a husband as well as a very proud father. 00:35:20.159 --> 00:35:22.159 What's your one word for Nebraska? 00:35:22.559 --> 00:35:32.880 I believe my one word for Nebraska is opportunity from things that we already know, like how rainfall changes so much in our state. 00:35:32.960 --> 00:35:35.280 The topography, the geology of our state changes. 00:35:35.360 --> 00:35:41.760 We're not just cornfields, we're not just cattle, we're not just chickens, we're not just metro hubs, we're all of that. 00:35:42.480 --> 00:35:50.480 And between the desolate areas of the panhandle to the urban areas of Omaha and anywhere in between, you can find your spot. 00:35:50.719 --> 00:35:59.840 You can find your spot that you want to raise your family in, you can find the political climate that you want to be in, you can find the resources you want to be surrounded with, the communities you want to be surrounded with. 00:36:00.000 --> 00:36:11.360 And as long as you have the grit to make that happen and the drive, the opportunity to be a good family member, a good community member, and a good person isn't is available here in Nebraska. 00:36:11.519 --> 00:36:33.840 And I've thought that since my first days of seeing Chimney Rock outside my window, the going to Memorial Stadium for the first time when I was seven or eight years old, seeing the campus to being a state officer and seeing a large part of Nebraska, to now making my claim here in West Nebraska in Morrill County, the opportunity has been there at every step, and I've never had to search for it. 00:36:34.079 --> 00:36:35.760 It was there at my at my window. 00:36:35.920 --> 00:36:37.679 And uh that's that's why I believe in it. 00:36:38.000 --> 00:36:40.880 David, well said, thank you for joining us. 00:36:41.199 --> 00:36:48.000 If you enjoyed this episode, consider subscribing on Apple or Spotify or wherever it is to get your favorite podcast at. 00:36:48.400 --> 00:36:52.960 Share it with someone and maybe uh someone who might have some ideas on some catalogs. 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:56.480 And please keep on listening as we release a digital episode on Facebook. 00:36:58.400 --> 00:37:21.199 It's number one industry agriculture, five, five, six, five, five, five, five, five, five, five, four, five, five, five, five, five, four, five, five, five, six, six, six, six, five, five, five, and five, and then, you know, that's a