As COVID-19-related cancellations mounted in 2020, it was clear exhibitors wanted a place to show and cattlemen needed a place to sell. In the state of Oklahoma, breeders got busy working their connections, and soon Cattlemen’s Congress was born. Now in its fourth year, the event featured record numbers and record-high sale averages this January. It has become a place of camaraderie, celebration, commerce and competition.  

This episode gathers three individuals who were there for the beginning and have been involved ever since, as they talk about its influence on the state and plans for the future.  

HOSTS: Miranda Reiman and Mark McCully  

GUESTS: Mark Johnson, Tyler Norvell, Donnie Robertson 

Mark Johnson, along with his wife, Brenda, and two daughters, operates J&J Beef Genetics, LLC.  Johnson grew up in Deerfield, Mo., and attended Northeastern Oklahoma A&M junior college and later Oklahoma State University (OSU) before completing his doctorate at Kansas State University in 1992.  

Since then, Johnson has been a professor of animal and food sciences at OSU and has served as supervisor of the OSU Purebred Beef operation for 32 years. At OSU, Johnson has held the Totusek Endowed Chair, been recognized with awards for teaching and advising, conducted youth and beef cattle extension programming, and coached the livestock judging team. He's been very involved in the Oklahoma Angus Association, and in 2024 he and his wife were inducted into the OAA Hall of Fame. 

Tyler Norvell, president of the Oklahoma Youth Expo and board chairman for Cattlemen’s Congress, has deep roots in Oklahoma agriculture. He grew up on his family’s farm and ranch, judged livestock for OSU, and served as vice president of public policy at Oklahoma Farm Bureau. Since 2012, Tyler has worked for the Oklahoma Youth Expo, where he leads in strategy development and fundraising. In addition, he owns a lobbying firm.  

Donnie Robertson was born and raised in Lexington, Ky., and had experience at purebred Angus operations across the country before coming to Express Ranches, Yukon, Okla., 31 years ago. He’s currently the vice president of marketing at Express Ranches, where he travels extensively and attends many purebred Angus sales. He is also responsible for selecting the sale cattle for Express’ six sales held at the ranch each year.  

Speaker 1 (00:03):
Welcome to the Angus Conversation. I'm your host Miranda Ryman with my fellow co-host, CEO of the American Angus Association, mark McCully. Hey, mark. We just got back from a good trip to Oklahoma City. We were down there at Cattleman's Congress this last week.

Speaker 2 (00:18):
We did, we made it back. It was a very full week as always, a little bit of winter weather that kept some folks maybe from maybe being there the full extent that they wanted to or maybe kept them away. Maybe they had to stay back home a day longer to get some snow dug out in some places, but most definitely a good event from start to finish.

Speaker 1 (00:38):
It was really fun for me. I've been to National Western oftentimes. It's more out in my part of the world here, but fun for me to go down to Oklahoma City and check out what that was all about. So we did a couple of podcasts live from our booth there, so that was pretty fun. But in addition to that, we had a lot of things going on throughout the week. I know one pinnacle of the event would be the shows that go on, of course. So had a lot of folks down here showing and had some success in the show ring. And then as well as, I guess commerce going on, we would say a

Speaker 2 (01:11):
Number of sales. Yeah, the shows were incredible. They always are. Our junior shows, our open shows, they're just so good anymore. And as somebody grew up in and around that show world, I mean, you just get pretty amazed when you sit around and see the quality of cattle and how well they're presented anymore. It's the water is deep as we say in the show ring. You don't find, it used to be where there'd be a couple on the front end that were pretty good and just some nice ones and they're all pretty competitive. And so it was always fun to have the show. And then as you mentioned, the commerce has become a big deal. I think a lot. I think we'll hear that from our guests here a little bit later, talking about the importance of the Cattleman's Congress, why it was put together initially during the covid years to make sure that commerce continued.

(02:04):
And so we have a number of Angus sales that starts with, gosh, we have three different sales that go on that are managed outside of the organization. And then we have actually the National Angus Bull Sale, which is the only sale that the American Angus Association manages on behalf of our members. And of course, that bull sale has a long, long history and has really over the last few years has really taken off again to be just a pretty outstanding showcase for our breeders of all sizes. There was a new event also in a commercial Hef for sale too.

Speaker 1 (02:41):
Yeah, absolutely. I always think, of course we've got Angus sales going on all throughout the year, but in some ways that national being so early in the Spring bull sail season feels like it's sort of a barometer. How is optimism going to be and how are these sales going to unfold? And I guess we can say that there strong interest and I think if that's sort of a predictor for how the rest of the sales season is going to go, we'll have some pretty happy Angus breeders throughout the season.

Speaker 2 (03:08):
Yeah, there's some pretty elite genetics there. That sale, we had 35 bulls sold and an average almost $21,000. So you had some bulls on the front end of that. We had two bulls that brought 130,000 for two thirds interest, another bull up over a hundred thousand. And so those are obviously elite bulls going to breeders, they're going to bull studs. They'll bell be heard from again in those kinds of circles. But we had some bulls that, again, commercial buyers were there in the seats and taking those bulls home with them. So you're right, it gave us a nice outlook of what the spring was likely to hold. And I don't recall exactly what the average was last year. I know last year was a record, and I want to say maybe we outpaced that by a couple thousand dollars again. So some really, really good genetics on display and demand was strong.

Speaker 1 (04:10):
And of course, if you want to check out any of those sale reports, you can go to angus.org and click on the marketplace and the sale reports will be listed right there. So you can go in detail on any of those. But another key thing that we want to talk about that happens also at this event is especially as we see all the folks running around in the green jackets helping out in the ring and helping out with other events, it's a good chance for breeders to get together and support our youth as well.

Speaker 2 (04:36):
And the Angus Foundation was also well supported in Oklahoma City. We started the bull sale with a foundation female sale that is, that's tradition. And this year we had a really, really nice pretty elite, actually female from Pollard Farms, Barry and Roxanne Pollard and Chairman Lester, their herdsman donated and presented this heer to be sold in her entirety with all proceeds going to the foundation. And at the end of the auction she brought $75,000 and went to ster in Nebraska. And so that kind of generosity, those are dollars then that go right back in and support. We talk a lot of times about unrestricted dollars, meaning dollars that can go to whatever the need is around youth programs, research, education, any of those pillars of the foundation. And so they're awfully important and most definitely appreciated. And then later we had somewhat of a new tradition that we started a couple years ago, and that is a herdsman social, and we do it out there at the barns where the herdsman can come in. They're usually on pretty,

Speaker 1 (05:59):
They can't take a break, so got to get to,

Speaker 2 (06:01):
I know we got to find a little window before they feed and after the shows and all the things. But this year as I introduced, are kind welcomed everybody. That event kind of has three purposes really. One, it's to recognize some outstanding herdsmen and to pick a herdsman of the year. It's also a foundation fundraiser. We had an auction and sold some really nice items and then it's just time of fellowship where everybody could kind of just get together and enjoy and reconnect. And so I think all three of those purposes were well-served. We had four outstanding herdsman candidates. We had Michael Jones from Express Ranches. We had Cole Kaufman from Oakley Farms in Tennessee, cash Langford from Hunter Angus there in Missouri, and Greg Van Z from Del Cattle Company in Iowa. Those four gentlemen. The way this works is we have a nominating committee that's actually the past four years herdsman of the year. They come together and they choose the four that they get brought forward as nominees. And then anybody

Speaker 1 (07:13):
Selected by your peers, I mean that's selected by

Speaker 2 (07:15):
Your peers and then elected by your peers because it's put out in a vote to all folks that participate in our role of victory shows. They get a chance to vote of who they think is most deserving for that year. So a really neat process, and I think it means a lot to those folks that spend so much time presenting cattle and marketing cattle. And with the title of herdsman, all four were highly deserving, but at the end it was Cash Langford from Hunter Angus here in Missouri that was selected as the herdsman of the year. So I know he was quite excited and sure, well deserving.

Speaker 1 (08:01):
Absolutely. So really when we kind of recap Cattleman's Congress into one whole ball of wax, it's part celebration, part reunion as we always say, or family reunion, a little bit of probably some education going on in there, definitely some business and things like that as well as just a good chance to see

Speaker 2 (08:21):
Definitely competition

Speaker 1 (08:22):
And competition. Yeah, there you go. That's the word I was looking for, mark. So it was really fun for me to be able to see it for the first time. And it was also fun to gather some folks together that we might not get all in one place in person any other place than Oklahoma City. So that would be definitely the case with today's episode where we go back and recount a little bit of the history of Cattleman's Congress as well as what it means for the state of Oklahoma and perhaps how other states can replicate that kind of support for agriculture in their state along with some vision for the

Speaker 2 (08:55):
Future. No, it was really good. I think three guys that certainly have some great perspective on the industry and definitely have been a part of the Cattleman's Congress from the beginning and some of the offshoots of things that have come about, but I think you're spot on. I think the lesson here, maybe the most valuable lesson that I heard is when it came down to it, when Oklahoma needed to step up and they needed support in a time, and again, we're going back in time when Covid had so much of the country shut down. They had support from their governor, they had support from the lieutenant governor, they had support from the Secretary of Agriculture, and that just didn't happen overnight. That was from years and years and years of being accessible and building those relationships. And when it was time where those relationships, they needed them, they were there. And I think some pretty unique insight of how that was done. And as you say, maybe a little bit of a roadmap for listeners of maybe some things, maybe you don't want to have a show in your state, but to advocate for your industry and to build those relationships with policymakers, I think they're pretty darn important.

Speaker 1 (10:09):
I think you're really going to enjoy this episode with Tyler Norvell, Donnie Robertson and Mark Johnson. Well, we're coming to you live from Cattleman's Congress here in Oklahoma City, and we've got a couple of guests who have long history with the show down here and long history with Oklahoma agriculture. So we're excited today to bring you Tyler Norvell, Donnie Robertson, and Mark Johnson. I guess we'll start. Maybe you've had a good day here, Donnie.

Speaker 3 (10:41):
Yeah, we've had a busy day and it's a good day. We started off this morning showing our car load and pin bulls, and we were fortunate enough to have champion carload and reserve champion pins. So it's been an early start, but a good one.

Speaker 1 (10:53):
Excellent. Why don't you give us just a little background of your history with Express Ranch.

Speaker 3 (10:56):
I've been at Express for a little over be 31 years in February. It's hard to believe now, but I started there along with Kevin Hefner, who is our vice President of operations, and Gerald Callahan came in shortly thereafter, but primarily I started in the show barn as Herdman and within about a three year period, Gerald decided to move me to the marketing side. And so for the last 26, 7 years, I guess I've been vice president of the marketing is my actually title. And so I travel a lot and go to a lot of purebred Angus sales. Obviously in the weekends my spring and fall, it's pretty hectic and busy and also kind of responsible for getting all the sale cattle picked out for all the sales. We have six sales at the location there in Yukon every year. And that's kind of primarily in a nutshell kind of what I do home originally Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky.

(11:52):
I grew just right outside of Lexington and was very fortunate and this business is a lot about the brakes that you catch and I was very fortunate to get introduced and hooked up to the right people in the business. And I had a passion at that time for showing cattle. And my first Angus job actually was with Ernie Wallace at r and j Ranch in Briggs, Texas that dates us far away back. And then I went to work full time for Bill Wilson at Premier Angus and I was there along with Brad Worthington in the show barn for about seven years. And that's kind of where cut my teeth, if you will, with the Angus generation and the Angus people and loved it. We dispersed, I think that was in the late eighties that Premier Angus dispersed, and about two years later, Bob Thunk called. And so

Speaker 1 (12:43):
Talk about a break.

Speaker 3 (12:44):
It was a break and it was kind of interesting. Both Kevin Hefner and I started the same time as I mentioned earlier, and I can remember us talking about it. At that time, Bob had limousine cattle and we didn't know a lot about limousine cattle, but we thought it was kind of an offer too good to be true. And I can remember Kevin and I talking before we accepted the job that we weren't sure if we wanted to do it. Most of these purebred deals seem to last about five years, but let's try it. And so here we are 30 years later and that just shows the fortitude and the love for the cattle business and the Angus business that Bob Funk has, and I've been blessed. Simply put, just extremely blessed.

Speaker 1 (13:25):
Well, we know you're a busy crew here at the show and very involved, so thank you for taking the time to come visit with us today.

Speaker 3 (13:32):
Absolutely.

Speaker 1 (13:33):
Another busy crew here at the show. Mark, you had Mark Johnson with Oklahoma State, and you also have your own Angus operation, but you were here with cattle from Oklahoma State Herd.

Speaker 4 (13:43):
Yes.

Speaker 2 (13:44):
And had the champion pen heifers,

Speaker 4 (13:47):
Grant Hubbard and Crew had an outstanding morning on behalf of OSU. Yeah, we were blessed.

Speaker 1 (13:53):
Absolutely. And newly elected member of the American Angus Association Board of Directors. So we're excited to get to know you more in the coming years.

Speaker 4 (14:01):
Good to be here.

Speaker 1 (14:03):
But of course, most folks listening to us probably know you as well from a lot of your judging coach days, kind of renowned judging coach and really mentored a lot of the students and folks we have out in the industry to now doing cool stuff.

Speaker 4 (14:17):
Yeah, I started at OSU in 92. It's interesting you look around at this point in life, the 93 team was the first full team I coached at OSU. Mark McCulley was judging for Western Illinois at that point. He got on my radar because he was always in the top 10 and coached those teams for years. Had Tyler Norvell on a team in 2005 that set the all time record in the national championship contest. And about 72 hours later I helped Tyler get his first job. I don't know if that was good or bad looking back, but

Speaker 1 (14:54):
What does Tyler say?

Speaker 4 (14:55):
Looked out good for me, supervise the pure bred cows, obviously have raised a family and my daughter's just graduated out of the junior show program. So this is my, we've been here each year. This is my first year at Cattleman's Congress without being a show dad. And that's kind of different.

Speaker 1 (15:14):
Is that good or bad? Is it like being an

Speaker 4 (15:15):
Empty nester? That's the part I'm trying to answer. I mean, I don't miss, it's good from a show administrator standpoint, setting up, taking down, I don't miss, but you miss having a stall and being here with your children and cattle. But there's plenty of other activities going on that we're involved with. So good to be here.

Speaker 2 (15:32):
Absolutely. So one of my favorite Mark Johnson stories is as a young first time coach at a judging contest, I came in just scared to death when I was at Michigan State and this Mark Johnson guy who I held up on a pedestal and watched him coach when I was judging, came over and took me under his wing and made sure I knew where to be, where to. And he wasn't like sending me down the wrong direct. It wasn't a hazing thing. He truly took care of me, made sure I knew where to be for the contest, where to be for the coaches meetings, where to be, and you need to do that. And I was just always, I've never forgotten that and always appreciated it. So

Speaker 1 (16:13):
Was very, you probably looked lost, mark.

Speaker 2 (16:15):
That's probably what it was. He is like this poor pilgrim doesn't have a clue where he is supposed to be. And you took pity on me, but whatever it was, I appreciated it. I knew you were gifted, I knew you were going to go far.

Speaker 1 (16:27):
And then we have a crest from us, I guess here. Tyler Bel. And I know you are well known in the state and in the agriculture industry, but this will be my first time meeting you. So Tyler, you're going to have to fill in some blanks for me. Yeah,

Speaker 5 (16:37):
Yeah. Thanks for having me. I went to, grew up here in Oklahoma, t went to Butler County, then went to Oklahoma State and judged for Mark Johnson. And we got back from Louisville. And I thought I was going to go get a master's and maybe come back and be a livestock judging coach. And the Lord had different plans for me. And Mark had some connections at Farm Bureau. I had some other connections. And three weeks after finishing Louisville, I had a full-time job at Oklahoma Farm Bureau as a lobbyist. And I didn't even know what a lobbyist was.

Speaker 4 (17:03):
Farm Bureau called literally the day after we got back from Louisville and Tyler's team had set a record and everybody's on cloud nine. I got a phone call totally unrelated. Mark, we need somebody probably off one of your first teams, somebody interested in government, interested in politics, Oklahoman, we need to put 'em to work as a lobbyist on behalf of Farm Bureau 30 to 35, still an up and comer, but got some seasoning experience, said, I listened at this point, I'm replay. I don't have anybody that's been on prior teams and I know Tyler's the guy for this job. So this is Wednesday and this may have happened even quicker than what you realize. I talk about Tyler and I, this boy's got the goods. I said, honestly, he could be governor of Oklahoma someday if he wants to. Well, what's the downside? He said he's 21 years old and he just came back from Louisville. He doesn't graduate until next May. Well, we need somebody can start now by 48 hours later, he'd been offered the job

Speaker 1 (18:09):
Why

Speaker 4 (18:10):
They were reluctant to talk to a 21-year-old. But once they did, it was done. Game

Speaker 5 (18:14):
Over OSU dumped me from 17 to six hours to graduate this before online classes. They would fax me my tests and I would take them in my office at Farm Bureau.

Speaker 1 (18:23):
Oh, that's wild.

Speaker 5 (18:25):
Worked there for six years and got a call from Bob Funk in the middle of the night, said, Hey, the executive director of Oklahoma Youth Expo job is open and we know if you're interested. And I said, I think I am as long as I can keep lobbying some. And he said, we'll figure it out. And been there for 14 years now and have my lobbying and consulting business as well, and then honored to be a part of Cattleman's Congress. I know we're going to talk about that a little bit and be on the board there. So it's been a lot of fun being a part of this, a very small part of putting Cattleman's Congress together.

Speaker 1 (18:56):
I guess maybe give us a little bit of the background on how this event exactly came to be and how you guys got it put together so quickly. I think you're,

Speaker 2 (19:03):
I most know the story. Obviously Covid came along, national Western was closed The Doors and Oklahoma

Speaker 1 (19:11):
Mandated by Colorado.

Speaker 2 (19:12):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (19:14):
It is a pretty funny story though. The day that the National Western canceled, I can remember exactly where I was sitting and what was going on. My staff came in and told me, I mean not 10 minutes later, Gerald Callahan popped up on my phone. I'm like, I'm not answering that. And I didn't know Gerald that well at the time. I knew him well, but not like Don. I still know him. Donnie knew him, but I didn't know him. I knew him a year ago today. And I was like, I'm not answering that. And then Bob Funk called five seconds later and I'm like, I got to answer this. And I knew Gerald told him to call like, Hey, we need to have the stock show here in Oklahoma City. I was like, it can't happen. There's no way guys. No way. And everybody just kind kept talking and talking and we called the fair. And this

Speaker 2 (19:51):
Would've been when,

Speaker 5 (19:52):
December, September, September s 20 19, 20 20 20, 20 20.

(19:59):
And when we called the fair because we had to rent the facility, they were very negative about it, just to be candid. They didn't see, they thought we were going to have a stock show, a trade show, I mean just Denver. And we said, no, no, no, we just want to have a cattle show. This is it. And then of course called the governor called and everybody's like, we're in. And when we started it, we've been very open about it. We thought this would be a one year show. It's a one year fix. And the demand was so high, we'd have been murdered had we not had another one. And it's hard to believe here we are in year five.

Speaker 3 (20:28):
Yeah. I can remember Tyler too, that day that Gerald tried to call you, I was sitting in his office and we had talked about it amongst ourselves, and I think he had called maybe a few other breeders in the state of Oklahoma. But it was his biggest deal was that we needed to keep commerce going for all of the exhibitors because I know for Express's standpoint, we've had 12 head of sell cattle here at the facility this week. And it's important to our bottom line each and every year to try to sell some cattle at this event. That was, we were doing it in Denver, obviously. And it did. It came extremely quick. And I think one thing that you have to remember that Tyler had a great relationship with the governor, which really helped. Bob Funk Jr. Had a great relationship with the mayor of Oklahoma City. I think it took all of those guys with the relationships, which again, going back to the relationship side of why are they so important? And it's just great how God puts those people in your life. You never know when you're going to need them and what they're going to do. But because of that, it went pretty quickly.

Speaker 5 (21:34):
And the other person we both would want to mention is the legal side, Jennifer Callahan, that kept us protected from liability

Speaker 3 (21:40):
Absolutely.

Speaker 5 (21:40):
As we gave her the Woman of the Year award the next year at Diamond Hats, because she made every junior national happen that summer of 2020. That's right. And then she made this happen because her and I got on a call at the state fair and they were worried about liability. And by the time that call was over, they were on board and it was all because of Jennifer Cal. That

Speaker 3 (21:57):
Is right. And again, you mentioned Junior National. We had the Tulsa hosted the junior national because nobody else would basically because of Covid obviously. But yeah, you're exactly right.

Speaker 5 (22:07):
Donny's, right. Took everybody.

Speaker 3 (22:09):
Yeah, it took everybody.

Speaker 5 (22:10):
And another star that rose from Mattis, Bray Haven, that's our executive director now as he was a 23-year-old kid and he's figured out and he's running the place now.

Speaker 3 (22:17):
And one thing that helped us here, you got to give a few props. This is the Cattleman's Congress. But one thing that did help is that we had Tyler and his crew from Oklahoma Youth Expo had an infrastructure already set up and they knew how to run a livestock show. And although there's a lot of differences about the Cattleman's Congress versus OYE, it's managed a lot the same. And they do a phenomenal job. So that was a big, it wasn't like we were just coming in here to it blind. They knew what we had to do to house as many cattle and how many cattle we could house and do they incorporate the pen and car load show like we had today was a struggle. Just, okay, where do we put 'em and how do we do it? And so yeah, it just all kind of came hand in hand. It was meant to be, was

Speaker 5 (23:03):
Meant to be, meant to be, but we didn't know it was meant to be

Speaker 2 (23:05):
At first. So talk a little bit about everything that goes on. I mean, I think for those that haven't been here, they think about the show side of it. And obviously we have a junior and open shows, but talk about the number of breeds, also the number of sales. I don't know if you guys have even count on the number of sales that occur during this event.

Speaker 3 (23:23):
Tyler would know more about the other breeds and those.

Speaker 5 (23:26):
Yeah, we have well over 15 breeds that are involved here. And we've seen a lot of growth and the smaller breeds that don't have a lot of traditional shows. And that's been really good success. And my hat's off to Bray on growing that and focusing on that a lot. The sales, I think there's close to 20 sales associated with this here around the grounds. And we did not understand the purebred industry, my OYE staff. I don't mean that negative, we just didn't know. And Gerald did a tremendous job at teaching that to us and the importance of commerce. And we we're very fond of that now and understand the importance of it. And it's been a great learning process. I will say we knew what we didn't know, but we didn't know how much we didn't know at the time. And now we do. And

Speaker 3 (24:10):
Going back again, and I'm probably talking too much, but going back to what you talked about, how this show started and what was the vision and the goal and to take nothing away from the other livestock shows that we go to, but we wanted Tyler, Gerald, Jennifer, everyone involved, wanted this to be a livestock show, wanted it to be a cattle show. We didn't want a rodeo, we didn't want a lot of other things going on. And we wanted it to make it exhibitor friendly. We didn't want to have to charge anybody to get in the gate, charge anybody to park. We don't have a tie out time. We don't have a release. You come in and you show your wares, you sell your cattle and you go home. And I think if anything, we've been very successful. I think most exhibitors, of course, people that show cattle, they're including myself at times. They can be constant complainers. But I think most of them when they leave here, they've had a good experience and they want to come back. And I think that's why I would

Speaker 4 (25:03):
Speak to that from just a family coming to show junior cattle. And we would've came with two breeds the first year and just the meaning in a year that so many plans were scuttled and so many things happened. And I know all the things that had to come together. I can remember Gerald talking about the miraculous 15 different things that the stars had to align so that any one of them to continue would've been the straw that broke the Campbell's back of Cattleman's Congress ever coming off. But I recall the first time we came down here as a family, it, and I'd say this to, we love showing cattle. We did it for 10, 11 years, but this was the most convenient, user-friendly, simplest show to attend from the time you came in and set up tack when it came time to leave the marketing of the cattle. And we had cattle in two different sales, I think the first year, first couple of years we were here. And it is, and my compliments to all the, and by the way, I didn't have anything to do with getting cattle as Congress online, but it is and was for us as fun a show and as easy a show to attend and market cattle and show cattle out as we attended.

Speaker 1 (26:19):
So in that first year, I think about, you say you already had the experience of OYE and all of that, but I mean there's just a lot of actual things that need to happen. You got to get websites set up and press releases. And how did you mobilize enough people to get all the work done that needed to get done?

Speaker 5 (26:35):
Yeah, well, it took us all, I mean, Jennifer handled all the legal stuff. I took the lead on the political stuff. Gerald took the lead and all the express crew and calling people, recruiting stuff for sales, I mean Express. They were out here every day. I don't even know who took care of the ranch, help us out here, get everything set up. And then JD Roseman, who does our communications, he took the lead on handling that. We activated it is kind of ironic, earlier in that summer at 2020 we put a show on in California and nobody thought a show could be put on in California. Of course we were on an Indian reservation and they couldn't come in and stop us. One of the funnest shows I've ever been involved in, speaking of all the legal, yeah. So it was that compared to nothing compared to Cattleman's Congress, but we kind of had experience putting that up. And I think that's what gave the idea to some too. Well, if they can go to California and do it, they can do it here. And I mean it was one of the best things, the funnest job I've ever been a part of putting on is that first Cattleman's Congress. And to tell you the truth, we joke as a staff, we enjoy this. I don't know if I can save more, but definitely as much as OYE, because here we get to work with Angus Herford, all these different breeds

(27:43):
And they put on the show. And so we just provide a venue. And so at OYE, we probably take quite a bit of rear chewings from parents that are up. It's just human nature. And here you like

Speaker 1 (27:53):
Calin. Do that here.

Speaker 5 (27:54):
Yeah. I tell this story, I probably shouldn't tell this story, but I've told this a lot and I told Gerald this, but there was a, I won't say the breed or who it was, but the first year there was a breed that was showing down there. It was not Angus, I'll tell you that. And a bull got loose three or four times and he was a good bull and he ended up winning the show and they came to me and said, what are you going to do about that? He got loose four times. You can't let that happen. And I looked at him and said, go talk to the breed association. That's the day I fell in love with Cattleman's company because Hawaii, it had been on me or my staff, but we'd have made the decision here at cycle. Nope, I'm not making that decision. And that's one thing Gerald said too, though same time we didn't understand the world and he said, we start, he goes, the breeds are going to pick their judges. We're not going to have veto power. We are going to do what the breeds want to do here within reason that we can, they're going to run their shows and we're going to get out of the way. And I hope that's what people think we've done.

Speaker 2 (28:43):
Yep, absolutely. Talk a little bit about the political, because I've never been to, and especially those first couple years, and it speaks to the relationships that you guys have fostered over, but you've got incredible political support for agriculture in the state of Oklahoma. But for sure this event, maybe speak to that.

Speaker 5 (29:04):
We're very blessed and I will tell you honestly, it's the nature of the state, but also OYE is kind of where it started. Mr. Funk has been the chairman since day one. Mr. Jimmy Harrell from Western Oklahoma who's very political active, has been the vice chairman. And my senior year was the first year of OYE. That's when I showed. And the second year they had a legislative and celebrity show in 2003 at Oklahoma Youth Expo put on by Mr. Funk and then executive director Justin Whitefield, and they got seven legislators to come out to the fairgrounds and show an animal with the kid from their district. Last year, there's 149 members of the Oklahoma legislature last year, 120 of 'em were here to show with the kid from their district. That's incredible. And so they know who we are. We've gone to the legislature and got million dollar appropriations before for OYE to kind of get us in good standing where we need to be.

Speaker 1 (29:51):
They all had fun doing it.

Speaker 5 (29:52):
Yes, exactly. And then we've got a governor like Kevin Stitt, who is from Tulsa who grandfather was the vet at the Stockyards whose other grandfather was a dairy farmer. And he fell in love with the culture of the people. He knew who Mr. Funk was. He knew me, he knew Gerald. And we called him and said, we have to have this. And he was a Republican state, conservative state, doesn't matter what party, conservative state wanting to keep the state open. And we called him and he couldn't say yes fast enough. He was in to the point in his state of the state, which would be State of the Union for Oklahoma in February of 21. He talked about Cattleman's Congress and how when other states turned their back on agriculture, Oklahoma stepped up and y'all may know the story because of that, the governor of Colorado responded and said, well, we love agriculture in Colorado too. And

(30:43):
The next day he went ahead and said that he was going to have meatless Mondays in Colorado, so stick declared meat all week in Oklahoma to which PETA put a sign out in downtown Oklahoma City that said, welcome to Oklahoma home of Governor Meathead Stit. And the governor loved it. And he called me one day and he said, what are we going to do about this? I was on the farm working show cattle. I said, well, I think you got to go grill hamburgers underneath it. And he said, that's exactly what I'm going to do. I was just being a smart

Speaker 6 (31:10):
Lec.

Speaker 5 (31:11):
And so three months later we grilled hamburgers underneath the pizza to sign and it all happened because of this show. So it's kind of a fun story. It's true.

Speaker 1 (31:17):
That is a super fun story, Chris. We were down here for board meetings with our former chairman of the board coming from Oklahoma and Dr. Barry Pollard, and we got to meet Blaine Arthur, your guys' agriculture commissioner too. And I think you guys got a lot of great support.

Speaker 5 (31:34):
Blames a huge part of the support too.

Speaker 1 (31:36):
That's

Speaker 5 (31:36):
A great point. We are fortunate to have the best secretary of ag in the country.

Speaker 1 (31:39):
I think there was a lot of our board members sent around kind of going, how do we get this amount of support for agriculture in our states? Because of course, a lot of 'em live in ag. Ag states very, a lot of their economies depend on agriculture and I don't think they feel that same level of support.

Speaker 5 (31:54):
But they got to start. They've got to start because we didn't have it in the late nineties here when I started a lobby, it was good, but it's not like it is today. You have to start and it takes time. It takes resources, time, kids, and financially you have to support them. But it's all doable. You just got to commit to it and just know it's a long game. This did not happen overnight. These guys can attest.

Speaker 3 (32:14):
No, no, no, it did not.

Speaker 1 (32:17):
So I guess that's probably a, you said it was going to be a one year show and we were just going to get through it and probably everybody was going to go back to National Western. At what point did you guys feel like the energy was there that it had to continue?

Speaker 4 (32:30):
The first week of the first show, by the time

Speaker 1 (32:33):
Before it was even over,

Speaker 4 (32:34):
We were coming in with our cattle Angus and Charla and there had already been several days of the show and several sales. And I'm hearing reports that these sales have set records with respect to their breed historically. And you knew the momentum from the onset was there and and it just built over the course of two weeks. And Tyler, you could recite some of those numbers that we have worked on the amount of tax

Speaker 5 (33:01):
I can, off the top of my head, I mean it was,

Speaker 4 (33:02):
But the tax dollars that came into the city and the state,

Speaker 5 (33:05):
I knew we were doing it again after Supreme Drive the first year, Gerald out in the rings like, we're doing this again. I was like, okay, well, we kind of kept it close to the vest. We wanted to leverage a little bit with the city and the hotels and one week after the hotels who appreciate OIE, but I don't think really appreciate OIE. Were calling me and we don't know who you are, we don't know what you are, but you have to stay in whatever you need. I always tell the story about Cattleman Steakhouse in Stockyards most famous steakhouse in Oklahoma. Man Sure. Who was running at the time called me. It'd be about this day right before the open show. And the Angus, the day before he called me and he said, Hey, we just had the best night we've had. And I said, since Covid, he said, no. In the history of this restaurant, you all drank us out of wh sounds like

Speaker 1 (33:56):
Our crowd.

Speaker 5 (33:56):
Yeah. But in the middle of Covid, the cattleman steak house had the best night in the history of the restaurant. Wow.

Speaker 1 (34:01):
Yeah.

Speaker 5 (34:02):
I mean that's when I knew, okay, we're here to stay. There's no way they're letting us leave.

Speaker 1 (34:06):
Sure. Absolutely. And

Speaker 5 (34:07):
The city, I will say the city thanks to Bob Fun Jr. And other city has stepped up and been a tremendous partner.

Speaker 4 (34:12):
Brandon, I would add one other thing. We haven't really talked about it, but with regard to momentum building and the popularity of this show and the staying power of this show is in the state of Oklahoma, we have got a great saturation of tremendous pedigree seed stock across the species. Well, the initial plan, the plan has always been, this is a cattle show and it's an elite event. And Gerald was adamant that there would be a livestock judging contest because when we talk about the importance of marketing opportunities and showing opportunities for those of us in the cattle business, got students on livestock judging teams that are preparing to go to national events and when they're not held, we put in a livestock judging contest here. And the feedback on that has been outstanding. And so I talk about all those species being great. We can get the greatest goats, sheep, and hogs that exist anywhere and really elite people on those committees to come in and be part of the contest. And then with this show going on, the access to the most elite cattle in the world being here, we are able to do what we take a lot of pride in. I think what our objective, we say each year, the best livestock judging contests that intercollegiate teams will be able to go to. And Tyler, you might talk a little bit about how that has been and we're working on the endowment for that. Yeah.

Speaker 5 (35:40):
So Mark is the superintendent of our contest. Volunteers do that. We appreciate that. And it was funny, I remember asking Callahan the first meeting we had, I said, are we having a judging contest? He's like, what do you think? We're having a judging contest? And he said, and we're having a market steer show. So I'm right with both. Just wanted to clarify. Now, all the small species, a funny story, the small species talking about how we are great in this state. When we had the first Cattlemen's Congress, Gerald and I made a lot of our dear friends really mad for not having a sheep, goat or pig show to replace Denver that year. But we held the line, but you know who I'm talking about. We held the line, but we did take some heat. But it's the right move. This is a cattleman, this celebration of the cattle industry, and we'll celebrate those kids at OYE.

(36:20):
But the judging contest with losing Gerald. Last year we had Gary and Kathy Buckholtz come to us at this show last year and said, we want to make sure there's a judging contest here forever. And it's always in Gerald Callahan's memory. And so this year we'll have the first ever Gerald Callahan Memorial Livestock judging contest presented by GKB. We're having a banquet, which there's not many contests left. They have a banquet around a full blown banquet at 500 people RSP fee to be at that Tuesday morning. Mark's in charge of that event for us along with Ca Newell, that helps him who's on maternity leave and still helping

Speaker 4 (36:53):
Right now. Cass is the one that does 99% of the work for that

Speaker 5 (36:56):
Contest. Ask for that, yes.

Speaker 4 (36:57):
And is on maternity leave and still doing it.

Speaker 5 (36:59):
Yes. And still doing it nonstop. If you know Cass, it doesn't surprise you, but we're very excited and very appreciative of Gary and Kathy and what they've done to make that possible. So we will always have a top notch, the top livestock judging contest in America right here in the Cattleman's Congress.

Speaker 2 (37:14):
So the idea we need to have a cattle show, we need to also have cattle sales, a venue for cattle sales, then to the contest. And then it's also bloomed over into the Cattleman's conference, which was held in May, all kind of under this one umbrella. And I know Mark, you spearheaded that. Maybe talk a little bit about the conference.

Speaker 4 (37:35):
That is another thing. When the first year or two we were here and realized we had such a great crowd and opportunity for educational events, and we tried some of those in the second and third year, and you all were involved with that and some Angus programming. And what we learned is that we were all so busy showing cattle and marketing cattle while we were here there. And I say that looking at D Robb's angst, getting ready for our bull sail here in a minute. We were also busy that maybe we needed another venue. So OSU Cooperative extension worked with Cattleman's Congress and the American Angus Association, noble Foundation, a lot of other big sponsors, but we had some really good cattle. We called 'em the Blueprint for the Future Parts one and two and addressed some hot button topics the last couple years on the OSU campus. And that's another offshoot of this. Mark, you were very involved, which we appreciate and we continue to entertain ideas of what we might do in the future to talk about educational events in the form of that blueprint theme of what are we dealing with for the sake of better educating cattlemen.

Speaker 1 (38:49):
So when you guys talk about the youth events, I know we're going to jump to OYEA little bit and that you've provided opportunities here. I guess Mark often calls our National Junior Angus Association as the, I guess on-ramp to getting involved in the industry and those kinds of things. Maybe talk about why it's so important to support youth in agriculture and provide opportunities to get 'em young.

Speaker 5 (39:13):
Yeah, that's the vision that Bob Funk had when we started Oklahoma Youth Expo. We were in jeopardy of losing the Spring Livestock show here, and he stepped up one with a few others, the Secretary of Ag at the time, Jimmy Harrell I mentioned and made it happen. Fun fact that not many people know, but Clay Bennett, the owner of the Oklahoma City Thunder was on the founding board of Oklahoma Youth Expo,

(39:32):
Not really involved much anymore, but that's the kind of people that stepped up. But they realized the importance. And I think we're seeing the fruition of it in Oklahoma now with the support for agriculture because I think there are eight to nine members of Oklahoma legislature who showed at Oklahoma Youth Expo. I'm not talking about when they were kids, since it's been OYE and oh two. So that's the type of onramping we're talking about. And I get on my soapbox quite a bit of encouraging these livestock judgers to go get involved in politics. I don't want to do that. Well, if we don't, we're going to be on the menu and the table real fast and we've got to get involved. And I'm a little biased towards that because what I've spent my career doing, but I see the importance. I know how effective agriculture people are, especially agriculture people that have judged because they have reason and they can back their reason up

Speaker 1 (40:17):
Because Mark Johnson's trained him.

Speaker 5 (40:18):
Yeah, that's right.

Speaker 1 (40:21):
He's shaking his head over here.

Speaker 5 (40:23):
But I think for the future of our state and our industry nationwide, we have to, I'm not going to use the word force, but heavily encourage kids to be like, Hey, if you don't go get involved, the ranch isn't going to be here.

Speaker 4 (40:36):
I would take that one step further to say, and I'm biased, my children only showed cattle. But when we think of great youth development, the responsibilities you have to take in order to get show cattle ready, and it's a long-term thing. You start with a calf and it builds and it's cumulative. And if you didn't do this when they were weaned, well then by the time they're a yearling, it's not going to happen. By the time they're a bread heifer and you're done showing 'em. And there's so many life skills that come out of this. And as we all sat here working in an industry with an aging demographic and wondering about where that next generation of cattle producers, it's not only the leadership roles that Tyler talks about, but it's those life skills you gain that can permit you to go back into beef cattle production and any of the real production segments of the industry. And those skills are built and refined through these show programs. And I can only speak for the volumes of students probably being the oldest person around this table, but you just see what an impact that has had on so many and what it has led to for 'em.

Speaker 3 (41:48):
Yeah, we see it. We see it at the OAE, obviously, and we see it, I think nationwide. And Mark and I have had conversations before about from an Angus standpoint and just how important the NJAA is from the standpoint of just keeping everything going from a show standpoint. And I can remember, it hasn't been very many years ago, I'll date myself, but 20 years ago at the National Western, we would show 250 to 300 head of open cattle and you would've a junior show that had about 30 in it, and that was it. And now realistically, you come to the Cattleman's Congress, and I don't know how many we showed yesterday, but I would bet that there probably wouldn't be more than five head of females show that didn't show yesterday in the open show. The junior program is. That's kind of why we're here. Yes, we have a bull show and we have what we had this morning and then all the sales, but the junior side of things is dominant. We've had the discussion many times, how important is to continue to have an open show? It is still important, but the junior show is so important, and that's where all your numbers come. All these cattle are going to show in a junior show at some point.

Speaker 5 (43:05):
We've seen it OYE in here too. I think there's not as many kids involved in production agriculture and show animal is a gateway to production agriculture, and we talk about that a lot. And it's the same way here. I'd say there's a lot of kids that show, I can think of several with Express

(43:22):
That I know in this state, parents have nothing to do with agriculture, but this is a gateway to get 'em encouraged to be a part of it. They may go in production agriculture, but when they go in their career, they can correct the false statements about agriculture. They can get involved. But Mark's right, it's twofold. It's the leadership, it's production it agriculture because this country is forgotten, but it's kind of coming back. Food security equals national security, and we are who we are. We feed our people and we take that for granted. We've lost this country. So this program is the only program in America that teaches kid. It's about production, agriculture, and leadership. The two things we got to have in this country, so I'm off my soap off. Amen.

Speaker 1 (44:02):
We see some of our intern candidates and some of our best intern candidates might not have grown up on a farmer ranch, but they had the opportunity to show some livestock and get some experience, and then they found a love for it and have gone on to do some

Speaker 2 (44:15):
Doors start to open.

Speaker 1 (44:16):
Right. Really great passionate advocates for industry and just the kind of people we need in those spots.

Speaker 2 (44:22):
Absolutely. Donny Express, I hate to venture a guess, the number of dollars that you guys, Mr. Funk has generously supported in scholarships with your program over the years, but

Speaker 3 (44:33):
Yeah, right at 5 million to give young people higher education. And that can be in a four year school or I'll use my daughter for example. She showed cattle there for a while and she went to college and didn't really like it, but went to beauty school and it paid for that. So it is really opened the doors for a lot of young people to succeed.

Speaker 1 (44:55):
A little extra incentive for the hard work that they put in.

Speaker 3 (44:58):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (44:59):
Yeah,

Speaker 3 (44:59):
Exactly.

Speaker 1 (45:01):
I'm going to jump kind of around a little bit, but we talked about the first year and the momentum and all that. I want to know what the conversations were like around your office there at Express when you got done. Was it like getting done with a big sale? What was it like?

Speaker 3 (45:13):
Well, it really was once after it was all over. Yeah. I think it was obviously tiring to some degree because we all, Tyler included, we all put a tremendous amount of work in it. But it was, and I've said this before, I actually said this last year when I judged Denver actually in the Angus show, it really, the movement here wasn't anything against them. Again, it was to keep commerce and to keep the ball rolling with showing cattle and having a place where people could sell their cattle. And I think it was gratification that we pulled something off that a lot of people really enjoyed. And a lot of people left here with a good taste in their mouth that they had sold some cattle. And as Mark alluded to, the sales that first year were great. And it was, I'm not going to say we sat back and patted ourself on the chest, but it felt good. It felt good. It felt good to do something that we all believed. The whole group believed that, hey, we'd pulled something off that a lot of people didn't think we could pull off. And we were very gratified, very pleased and very happy.

Speaker 2 (46:22):
I also remember the level of appreciation, and it was not just for Cattleman's Congress, but also that year also to be able to come to Tulsa and have a national junior show when again, it felt like the world had shut down. Oklahoma was definitely open. And that appreciation from families around the country that were able to come and get back to some sense of normalcy and do what they

Speaker 1 (46:45):
Loved. They couldn't

Speaker 2 (46:46):
Graduate from high school friends. And that level of appreciation was incredibly high.

Speaker 3 (46:52):
Yeah, it was. And I remember that first year when Tyler called out, he was like, Hey, we've got it done, but now we've got to wear a mask. Which was fine. We all wore masks like everybody else did. But it was, I think as Mark alluded to that first year, it was very gratifying that I'm going to brag on Tyler and brag on state of Oklahoma. I don't know any other state that could have pulled it off because, and it just, it's funny how it all works. This facility, as Tyler can tell you, is used, this is about the only two weeks out of the year that there's not a horse function going on here. We've tried to the Angus Junior National here that can't because they're booked up for door shows. And so it just happened to fall into the right timeframe to where we were able to get it. It was meant to be. It was meant to be. And it wasn't meant to replace anything. It was to build on something that we believe that would help the people, help the exhibitors, help the producers and the young people to be able to go somewhere and to do what they love to do.

Speaker 5 (47:58):
There is one thing I want to talk about because you said facility, because I want people to know this about the arena and the update where we're going to be. So the Oklahoma Youth Expo during March is the last big event in the state fair arena. We call it the big house. So there'll be state tournament basketball, then us, then it's done. And you all have seen the new arena, the south side of that we will show in there next year in the new, we call it the new big house. The show will be in there next year. So this will be the last year to have it in the Jim nor Arena when you come here next year. Hopefully that is tore down. I don't know if it'll be completely tore down yet. And they will build a connector arena between the gateway of champions here and the new big house we

Speaker 6 (48:38):
You predicting

Speaker 5 (48:39):
Road. Hopefully by 2028 it's done, but it's going to, could be 29. And I mean, people have to be patient. There'll be some things we've got to work around to get that done. But the new arena is going to be excellent.

Speaker 3 (48:51):
And I'll brag on Tyler and his crew and at most livestock shows, mark, you would understand this and Tyler would too. You go to these shows and there might be something that you don't really like or something that you think needs to be done differently. They've always had an open door and they've always had an eager ear to listen. And if it's changes that need to be made. And we had a struggle here yesterday with the snow that we're really not used to in Oklahoma, although it was a pretty good expense for us. They grabbed bobcats and skid steers and started putting down barks so the cattle wouldn't slip because that is a priority here is their safety. And we're not. So, I guess arrogant about the fact that there's things that we need to do different and that they need to do different in terms of the management or just the logistics of the show to get done.

Speaker 5 (49:40):
You always got to be improving.

Speaker 2 (49:42):
So in that vein, what's in the future? What does you guys sit around and think about? What could be, and is there things that are going to be different in five years at Cattleman's Congress and

Speaker 5 (49:53):
Well, the arena and the connector.

Speaker 2 (49:54):
Sure,

Speaker 5 (49:55):
Of course. Yep. One thing I'm super excited about that happened here yesterday, and I'll be honest, I had minimal involvement in it, but I want to brag on Matt Sims and Kevin Hefner and Bray Haven, and there's others I'm leaving out on our commercial cow and Brett Heifer cell that we had yesterday where we sold 850 head and they were above market average. And that is one place I know I want to focus. I know Gerald wanted to focus Jennifer's spending a lot of time on it. That is something we're going to focus on and try to grow the commercial cattleman side of this deal. It's good for everybody.

Speaker 3 (50:23):
One thing that was always dear to Gerald's heart, of course, was the carload and pen show. He loved that more than anything. We would drive through those bulls it seems like every day, a month before Denver. And I think it's been positive of the numbers that we have here. Again, as we've talked, we weren't trying to duplicate the setting out there, but encouraging to me this year as I walked around the barn and today at the show, there was a lot of first time exhibitors down there that were showing pens and pens of heifers or pens of bulls, and I think it's just another, and I look for that to get bigger. And I think Tyler's planning on that and probably already got a plan on place in terms of space and what to do and how to handle more cattle if that's the case. And so, yeah, I think it's just constantly evolving and you want to find out your mistakes, what you did wrong and make 'em better. And I think we do a pretty good job of that. Or they did.

Speaker 1 (51:13):
I've heard you mention Gerald's name several times, and I think that you could think of a legacy that he left as that sort of always improving and always driving forward. That kind of fits right

Speaker 3 (51:21):
In. Always, always, always, always. If you listen to the podcast that he did there before he passed away, I think his words were the pursuit to make him better. And that was not only in cattle, because I was very fortunate to, and I'll get a little choked up on it, but I was fortunate to be around him every day and he just wanted to make things better. Whether it was you as a person or with Cap and the business, I think Tyler would, and I know Mark would agree to that, and I think if he was here today, he would've, although he was the one not to give out a lot of compliments as

Speaker 4 (52:03):
He would've a list

Speaker 3 (52:04):
Of things we needed to be doing better. He was here today. Yeah, he would've told me I did something wrong today showing those bulls, but he would approve. I think he really would approve. Fantastic.

Speaker 1 (52:14):
Well, we know that we've got places that you guys all have a list of places to be including the National Angus Full Sail, which is going to start shortly, and we want you to spend your money there. So we're going to make sure we

Speaker 2 (52:23):
Wrap this up. You've got one to sell there. I've got one to sell there. So

Speaker 1 (52:27):
We always end on a random question of the week. I want to know a favorite memory from either the show ring or from a judging contest or a favorite

Speaker 3 (52:36):
Memory. I'll start that for me. And again, going back to Gerald, because those of you that know me know how much I love the guy. And for me it was the second, I believe it was the second year of the Cattleman's Congress, and he asked me to be his associate for the Angus Show. And so for me,

Speaker 1 (52:54):
You'd made it.

Speaker 3 (52:55):
I made it. And I'll tell you a quick funny story about that. I had judged with him several occasions at Junior Nationals and whatnot, but I had called him two or three days beforehand and I asked him, because we got made fun of it to Herford Junior National one year, we wore the same outfit. And I said, okay, what kind of sports jacket are you wearing? And he told me. So I had went out and bought one and I paid quite a little bit of money for it. And I showed up that morning. It was cold that day, and he had on his Cattleman's Congress jacket, and I did too, because we walked in from the outside and I asked him how he liked my sports jacket and he said, oh, it's pretty nice. He said, but you know what? These coats look really good on us. Let's just wear those coats. So I was like, I just paid all this money for this sports coat. It was looking good. And no, I don't want to do that. But we did. And I have a picture, he and I out in the show ring just twinning. I'm standing there together being little Twinkies. But for me, out of all the things that I've probably done in the show ring, and we've been very fortunate at Express to show some pretty good cattle, that for me is probably the hot

Speaker 1 (53:54):
Pinnacle. Love it. Right? You've had long enough to think,

Speaker 5 (53:58):
Well, I've already shared mine. Favorite memory of this all go with the Congress, but the governor, us eventually having the Governor Grill hamburgers under a P of sign for me can't be bad. That's my favorite. Yeah. All go funny. Yeah. So yeah, that's my favorite.

Speaker 1 (54:12):
Alright, love it.

Speaker 4 (54:13):
I guess mine great memories of being here with my wife and daughters and showing, and I can remember a year when there was one just maybe three years ago, I think the Charla Junior Show and the Angus Junior Show were taking place at the same time, and we were getting along really well in both rings, and we needed to be in both rings at once. And it was a typical Johnson Family Circus, but that was a wonderful day. And the other one for me, probably that getting choked up last year doing, I guess the Supreme Junior Drive with Ryan Call.

Speaker 1 (54:53):
That's cool. That's

Speaker 4 (54:54):
Pretty

Speaker 2 (54:54):
Special.

Speaker 1 (54:55):
Mark, do you have one?

Speaker 2 (54:57):
Oh, no. Gosh,

Speaker 1 (54:58):
I didn't give you time.

Speaker 2 (54:59):
You didn't give me time. What I tell you, what I did start thinking about was, and I don't remember if it would've been the first time I would've judged a major limousine show. And I think having probably you and Couch and Callahan all out there showing, and if you didn't see me trembling, I was, man, those were,

Speaker 1 (55:22):
But you continued to judge and you got called back at other places. He must have done all right. Well,

Speaker 2 (55:27):
Yes, probably not much.

Speaker 1 (55:28):
And he was a good

Speaker 3 (55:29):
Judge. He did a nice job. I

Speaker 1 (55:31):
Think we

Speaker 3 (55:31):
Won that year maybe. Well,

Speaker 1 (55:33):
You'd have remembered if you didn't. When

Speaker 2 (55:35):
He, I do remember he was talking about Bill Couch. I do remember the workout you guys put together a December workout that I brought the team to. And I remember you had a class of Angus Bulls out there and I think, I don't remember if you were there, but I do remember Couch was standing there kind of looking over my shoulder and I was finally

Speaker 1 (55:57):
A race over

Speaker 2 (55:58):
Here's going to be official. And he nodded at me and he told me I got it right. I do remember that one. So

Speaker 1 (56:05):
Very good. Well fun listening to your guys' memories. We thank you for all the work that you've put into this event and the show and all the opportunities you've provided and all the kids you've helped get their start and the commerce you helped continue and the list could go on and on and on. So thank you guys.

Speaker 2 (56:21):
Back to my comment earlier about the appreciation. There was appreciation and we're here in Oklahoma, but that truly that appreciation for this event and then what it's blossomed into. And again, I think about the conference and I'm excited about the ideas of growing the commercial presence and whether it's getting more of the commercial cattlemen here. I think that's a fantastic opportunity for, I was excited to see new exhibitors here last year, and I anticipate this year in here for our national bull sale, there's commercial cattlemen sitting in the seats buying really good bulls to take back. So it's really this what was a very bold move and very brave move has turned into an incredible opportunity and it's much appreciated across the country. So thank you guys. Well, thank you, thank you, thank you being a part of, I appreciate the

Speaker 4 (57:10):
Opportunity.

Speaker 1 (57:12):
And we're off with season six of the Angus conversation. I sincerely want to thank all of you who've been listeners with us throughout this journey. When you stop by at trade shows or see me at Angus events and mention that you've been listening and offer ideas. I just really love that. That's one of my favorite parts of doing this. If you want to help other people find our podcast, go to your favorite podcast platform and rate us or leave us a review or go ahead and share it on any of your social channels, just to let other people know about it. We'll look forward to seeing you at events this spring and kicking off several good conversations here to come. As always, you can find all your latest news and information@angusjournal.net. This has been The Angus Conversation, an Angus Journal podcast.