Around the Chute

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The hosts open by discussing a rough summer marked by extreme heat, drought, and personal losses, then reflect on how they’ve gone long stretches without talking and how people often don’t know what others are dealing with. They criticize modern social media and podcasts for negativity, self-promotion, and agenda-selling, noting it may worsen cattle-market sentiment during a downturn. They cover Joe’s upcoming bull sale catalog distribution and discuss GPS/e-collar tracking benefits for locating, calving, and gathering cattle while observing herd social behavior. Conversation shifts to crossbreeding and heterosis, consistency of maternal vs terminal types, and the importance of environment, goals, and proper contemporary grouping in data reporting. They emphasize educating customers to value functional, properly developed (not overfed) bulls, share motivations, hard lessons in ranching, and briefly mention shows like Lioness and Lonesome Dove before moving to listener questions and closing.

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Hosts Joe and Vince discuss hot summer farm conditions, bull development, and social media pressure before introducing the episode’s focus on embryo transfer. Guest Dr. Levi Holt of Green River Embryo Transfer and Holt Farms Angus (Livingston, Tennessee) shares his background as a veterinarian, Angus breeder, and how he bought Dr. Herb Brown’s ET practice in 2019, expanding from pickup-truck work to a new facility and mobile lab offering conventional ET, IVF, donor housing, and on-farm services. The conversation covers why repro work is rewarding despite failures, what drives consistent ET success (cow families, fertility, nutrition, mineral and herd health), conventional vs IVF goals, approximate embryo costs, donor freshness and breeding back, recipient management and heat-detection vs timed transfer, synchronization protocols (7-day and 7&7), seasonal heat-stress effects, donor selection and acclimation, IVF in virgin heifers and risks, semen and breeding schedules, FSH dosing pitfalls, record-keeping tools, common mistakes, and practical advice for beginners.

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The host discuss recent feedback on a show-industry episode, then shift into questions, starting with pedigree building and placement, emphasizing there’s no formula and outcomes vary even among flush mates; they debate repeating successful matings, uniqueness versus replicability, donor consistency, and how business models affect whether repeat flushes “devalue” a female. On over-hyped sires, they avoid naming specifics but stress that what works elsewhere may fail under different management and culling context, urging producers to seek genetics from programs run similarly to their own. A listener's question prompts a broader discussion on who future beef producers will be, land costs, potential vertical integration, and technology like virtual-fence collars to reduce daily stress. They end with how studs select bulls mainly for what they can sell, suggest being your own stud, and encourage using your own bulls, slowing down, and focusing on longevity.

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Hosts interview Dr. Jenna Stockler, an Auburn University food-animal internist and “pet livestock” veterinarian, about her path from West Virginia to Mississippi State, California dairies, and Auburn faculty. She explains how Auburn’s teaching hospital differs from private practice, the four-year DVM curriculum, student rotations, and annual class size (~130 with state allocations). Discussion covers the large-animal veterinarian shortage, including heavy student debt, lifestyle considerations, and rural loan-forgiveness and USDA support programs. Stockler describes Auburn as both primary care and referral hospital with 24/7 access, boarding, MRI/CT, and an Aqua-Cow flotation tank for down cows. They discuss unusual cases (kangaroos, giraffes, wildebeest), common cattle problems seen (feet issues like hairy heel warts, toe abscesses, screw claw; stifle injuries), emerging diseases like Theileria, screw worm prevention, and practical herd-health priorities such as vaccination, targeted parasite control, fecal testing, good nutrition, and early necropsy/diagnostics.

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The hosts discuss busy seasonal ranch work, shipping and weaning cattle, and using haying as a pasture-management tool while debating the high cost and labor of hay equipment, small-square vs round bales, irrigation issues, and rain-damaged hay. They share personal stories about cutting and tedding hay, mower conditioners, and vacation downtime. They then introduce their first non-board-guest, Kyle Gillooly of Wadley, Georgia, an Indiana native who manages CES Herefords and Angus, co-owns Predestined Cattle, and sells females through the Partners in Progress sale. Kyle and the hosts compare today’s show industry to earlier eras, noting shifts from open-show marketing and production focus toward junior “project” cattle, IVF-driven donor use, and more extreme, fitted “beauty contest” types. They emphasize balance, longevity traits, judging integrity, clear accurate reasons, and discuss pressures from social media, judge variability, and the value of judging programs and youth shows.

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The main discussion, in this episode, covers evaluating cattle across stages: calves can change dramatically, with Vince focusing evaluation around weaning and later, while others also like pre-weaning and 12–15 months for bulls; hair shedding is noted as useful. Success is framed functionally as fertility, calving on time, breeding back, and weaning a big calf, with integrity-driven culling for feet, udders, and open cows, and decisions influenced by resources and herd management.

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Three podcast hosts recap a Tennessee trip centered on Vince’s Shady Brook sale, mixing travel stories with ranch and cattle discussions. They describe friends and listeners helping at the farm, tour stops including Ingram Angus, Josh King’s place, Buck Snort (with virtual fencing dog collars), and later visits to Yakley, Windbush, and ZWT. Highlights include getting trucks stuck and damaging a bumper while sorting cows, encountering coon hunters, a late-night Waffle House debate, Dollar General mishaps, BBQ and brisket, and a bull fight at Buck Snort that tore up a fence. They reflect on the sale’s heat, community atmosphere, and Vince’s integrity in honestly describing cattle, thank buyers and supporters, and preview a future episode about creating opportunities for young producers.

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The hosts discuss a listener question about what drives value in a seedstock operation versus what customers value, using AI sire selection and customer demands as examples. They emphasize prioritizing phenotype (especially feet), maternal function, usable pedigrees, and avoiding EPD “train wrecks,” while arguing value should come from matching cows to environment and market, especially under widespread U.S. drought and input shortages. They critique how online discourse and association tools like EPDs and genomics can create value swings, accelerate churn, and penalize alternative programs, and they stress longevity and fertility as core value drivers even though they slow “genetic progress.” They also touch on strategic, limited flushing of younger and older proven cows, and briefly promote Vince’s upcoming Shady Brook Angus sale in Tennessee.

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The hosts recap Joe’s trip to producer sales and visits with listeners, plus Korbin’s bull sale where “Stonewall” went viral with millions of views. They discuss what consistency means in cattle, arguing it comes from disciplined culling, tighter calving windows, fewer sires, and focusing on long-term cow performance, while marketing and high-dollar donors can discourage needed culling. They also answer a listener question on becoming proficient at artificial insemination by breeding more cows, practicing on commercial females first, involving additional trained help, and learning from preg-check results.

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The hosts recap a previous episode featuring their wives, share farm stories including Amy rescuing a groundhog and a phone surviving a fall into a dry ice/methanol cooler during freeze branding, and then discuss the American Angus Pathfinder program and its criteria. They debate the value of Pathfinder designations, noting how small contemporary groups, herd management differences, and ET calves can cause strong cows to miss recognition, and they emphasize the need for context and reputable data submission. The conversation shifts to bull sale season and a lengthy debate about paper catalogs versus online catalogs, marketing waste, and the importance of maintaining accurate customer mailing lists, before closing with mentions of Korbin’s upcoming sale, CCi.live streaming, and ear tag branding ideas.