The Bullvine Daily Brief

A barn is burning on a cold February morning. Holsteins are screaming inside, the doors are locked from within, and a Cadillac sits at the road with its engine running while sixty head die in the flames. A few decades later, a semen straw labeled “Roybrook Telstar” turns out to be dishwater—and an Angus calf hits the straw instead of a Holstein. Then a $7,500 cow gets insured for $250,000, and two showmen are dead by their own hands within a week. These aren’t urban legends; they’re real stories pulled from Holstein history. And once you’ve heard how they happened, you’ll never look at your own paperwork, partners, or policies the same way again.

The Story You’ll Hear

• The barn fire where the doors were locked from the inside, the calves were insured for $50,000 each, and neighbors watched a Cadillac instead of a rescue.
• The “friendly” buyer at the lane who knew your cows better than you did—and cashed cheques on a town that didn’t even exist.
• The semen dealer who refilled high‑priced straws with dishwater and cheap semen, and how a single Angus calf blew open a $500,000 fraud.
• The county meat racket that turned deadstock and downers into stamped “Approved” meat—and how the renderers spotted it before regulators did.
• The Holstein trader whose eye for a cow built great herds—but whose hot cheques and rule‑bending forced everyone around him to pick a side.
• The big‑name breeder whose insured cows kept dying, the son who refused to sign a false claim, and the family that paid the price.
• The young showman who over‑insured three cows, chased banners he couldn’t afford, and ended up as a cautionary tale no one in the tanbark world can quite shake.

Underneath all the drama, this episode is really about something every dairy person lives with: trust. Trust in the buyer at the lane, trust in the cheque, trust in the semen tank, trust in the inspector’s stamp, trust in the partner who says “sign here, I’ve got it handled.” These seven stories stretch from the 1920s to the 1990s, but the weak spots they expose haven’t moved much—paperwork nobody reads closely, values nobody dares question, and a culture that sometimes puts “he’s a good cow man” ahead of “is this actually safe for my business and my family.” Whether you’re running 60 cows or 6,000, grinding genetic spreadsheets or hauling milk to town, you’ll hear pieces of your own world in these cases. You’ll feel the tension in the kitchen‑table decisions, the sick feeling when the numbers don’t add up, and the quiet courage it takes to say “no” when everyone else wants you to look the other way. This isn’t just crime history—it’s a mirror for how we run our farms, our co‑ops, and our reputations.

To dive deeper into the cases we talk about in this episode, read the full feature article “Locked from the Inside: Dairy’s Darkest Crimes and the Weak Spots They Exploited” at https://www.thebullvine.com/breeder-profiles/locked-from-the-inside-dairys-darkest-crimes-and-the-weak-spots-they-exploited/, where you’ll also find related articles, numbers, and tools to pressure‑test your own systems. If this episode hits close to home—or reminds you of a story from your own county—we’d love to hear from you. Subscribe to The Bullvine Podcast so you don’t miss future episodes, and connect with us on social to share your experience, your questions, or the moment you decided where your own line was.

June 4, 2025, started like any other morning at Outlook Dairy in Lovington, New Mexico. Cows lined up. Units clanked on. Spanish and English mixed over the familiar hum of the parlor. By sunset, 35 of 55 workers were gone—detained or terminated in a single federal enforcement action. Production had effectively ceased. The owner's own words: "We're barely able to keep going."

But this isn't a story about politics or policy. It's about what happened next. It's about the neighbours who showed up before anyone called, the teenagers who traded summer break for scraping alleys, and the quiet ways a community refused to let one farm carry the crisis alone.

If you've ever wondered who would show up on your worst day—or whose call you'd answer—this episode will change how you think about the people around your operation.

The Story You'll Hear:

• The morning everything changed—and the math every listener will do in their own head
• What "production effectively ceased" actually looks like when cows still need to be milked
• The 35 workers who weren't just labour—they were neighbours, parents, and friends
• Why the local feed mill, church, and grocery store all felt the shockwave
• The teenagers and office staff who suddenly became the crew
• What happened at a town hall when a governor, church leaders, and school staff sat in the same room
• The industry-wide reality no one wants to face: who actually milks America's cows
• The quiet, unglamorous acts of community that never made the news but changed everything
• A kitchen-table question that every producer needs to answer before the next crisis hits

Read the full feature article and explore related resources on dairy labour, community resilience, and workforce planning at https://www.thebullvine.com/politics/one-ice-raid-35-workers-gone-a-new-mexico-dairy-learned-what-community-really-means/

Subscribe to The Bullvine Podcast so you never miss an episode. New stories drop regularly—profiles, insights, and conversations that make dairy producers and the industry more profitable.

Have a story about community showing up on your operation's hardest day? We want to hear it. Connect with us on Facebook, Instagram, or X, and share what neighbours mean on your lane. Your story might be the one that helps another producer feel less alone.

She was the kid in the baby blue trailer at the edge of an Iowa cornfield, standing at the fair fence line, watching the dairy princesses ride past on the float she’d never be allowed on. Her dad farmed corn and soybeans, not cows, so the crown—and the butter bust—were “never in the cards.” Two decades later, after twelve years of “not yet” in Nashville, that same “corn kid” walked into a working Land O’Lakes member dairy farm with a guitar on her back and cameras rolling. By the time she crouched down to talk to the calves and started playing to Holsteins with a cornfield behind them, it wasn’t a marketing gimmick anymore. It was a full‑circle moment that says as much about rural communities and dairy families as it does about one rising country star—and it might change how you think about your own legacy, whether your kids come back to the parlor or not.

The Story You’ll Hear

• The moment a little girl at the county fair realized she’d never qualify as a dairy princess—and why that stung more than she let on.
• The baby blue trailer, the night shifts at the plant, and the kind of “keep showing up” work ethic that feels very familiar to anyone who’s ever milked through a bad year.
• The first trip to Nashville that made her feel like she’d landed on another planet—and the kitchen‑table conversation where she told her parents she was leaving anyway.
• Twelve years of closed doors, side jobs, and watching everyone else get the big breaks while the bills stacked up and the doubt got louder.
• The “Ten Year Town” moment when she almost walked away—and what pulled her back into the writing room instead.
• How a song about eminent domain and losing farms in western Iowa shook her—and why “Middle of America” sounds uncomfortably familiar if you’ve ever watched development creep toward your fenceline.
• The phone call that put her on a Land O’Lakes member dairy farm with a guitar, a camera crew, and a bunch of cows who didn’t care about charts or streaming numbers. What happened in the parlor and calf pens that proved she wasn’t just another celebrity tourist on a farm set.
• The quiet ways her hometown still shows up—texts, bar TVs, fairgrounds conversations—and how that mirrors the way dairy communities rally when the headlights line up in the lane.
• Three small, practical things any producer can do this year to keep their own community from fraying at the edges.

On paper, Hailey Whitters is a country artist with a breakout record and a brand partnership. In reality, she’s a farm‑kid‑adjacent “corn queen” who grew up in the same kind of rural web that keeps a lot of dairies alive when the numbers say they shouldn’t be. Her story doesn’t dodge the hard parts: years of rejection that feel a lot like sending in another milk cheque that doesn’t quite cover everything, watching your peers seem to sprint ahead, wondering whether the life you’ve built is actually going anywhere.

Read the full feature on Hailey Whitters’ dairy detour (https://www.thebullvine.com/dairy-industry/i-was-so-jealous-of-the-dairy-princesses-how-hailey-whitters-got-her-full-circle-moment-on-a-working-dairy-farm/), and explore more community‑driven stories from the barn aisle, visit thebullvine.com. While you’re there, you’ll find related articles on succession, mental health, and building stronger rural networks, plus tools to spark conversations in your own herd, family, or boardroom.

Most herds still treat the 1.2 mmol/L ketosis cut-point as a hard line: if a fresh cow tests over 1.2, she gets drenched—no questions asked. The problem is, the economics and the latest research strongly suggest that this blanket rule is quietly draining $25,000–$35,000 a year from a typical 500-cow herd while still missing the cows that matter most. In this episode of The Bullvine Podcast, we unpack why the “treat every cow over 1.2” strategy is outdated, how timing, parity, body condition, and system type completely change what a BHB number means, and what a modern, data-driven ketosis playbook looks like for herds that want both healthier fresh cows and stronger margins.

Key Takeaways

· Why the traditional 1.2 mmol/L subclinical ketosis cut-point was never designed to be a one-size-fits-all treatment trigger.

· How realistic cost-per-case models turn “a few ketotic cows” into a $25,000–$35,000 annual hole in a 500-cow herd’s bottom line.

· The crucial difference between a 1.3 reading on day 5 in a fat, fourth-lactation cow and the same 1.3 on day 15 in a high-output second-calver.

· How global data on subclinical ketosis prevalence redefines what “normal” looks like—and why “normal” is often not good enough.

· A practical, risk-based framework for deciding which cows to test, which cows to treat, and when to simply monitor and retest.

· How to use rumination collars, milk components, and MIR-based ketosis risk traits as screening tools, not automatic treatment engines.

· Why the biggest ketosis gains still come from transition fundamentals—body condition, stocking rate, bunk space, and cooling—not just more propylene glycol.

· How emerging genetic tools like MIR-derived pHYK traits can help build “ketosis-resilient” cows over the next decade.

If you’re ready to move beyond “treat every cow over 1.2” and build a ketosis strategy that actually protects your margins, this is an episode you don’t want to skip. For related articles, charts, and links to the research and economic models discussed, visit https://www.thebullvine.com/management/how-your-ketosis-cut%e2%80%91point-is-leaking-25000-a-year-and-the-fresh-cow-playbook-to-stop-it/ and search for the ketosis playbook feature.

Subscribe to The Bullvine Podcast on Apple Podcasts so you never miss an episode focused on real numbers, real cows, and real-world profitability.

Join the conversation on social media—share how you’re managing ketosis in your herd, what’s working, and where you’re still seeing challenges. Tag The Bullvine and let’s push the dairy industry forward together with data, innovation, and smarter fresh cow decisions.

The drought had already taken the cows. Then came the day the office closed and thirteen people waited to hear if they still had jobs. In another barn, a wife’s empty chair at the kitchen table made the next milking feel heavier than any pail. Somewhere else, a young breeder was told, “You’re not good enough,” by the very people who were supposed to believe in him. This episode drops you into those moments—when walking away would’ve been easier, maybe even smarter on paper—and follows the people who chose to stay, persist, or show up for someone else instead. Their choices will change how you think about resilience, loyalty, and what really keeps your own operation going.

The Story You’ll Hear

· The drought years that wiped out a herd—and the quiet promise to find a job for every last employee.

· The phone call that turned “you’re done here” into the first step of a far bigger impact on the dairy world.

· Why one husband walked back into the lab after losing the person who’d carried the home side of the farm for decades.

· The moment a simple “come along with me” kept a young cow kid from leaving the industry entirely.

· How a lifetime of small habits—Christmas cards, barn visits, late-night phone calls—added up to the kind of community you can’t put on a balance sheet.

· What happens when genetics, research, and showring success are driven less by ego and more by a stubborn commitment to help the next person in line.

This isn’t a highlight reel of trophies and titles; it’s a look at the parts of dairy we don’t usually say out loud—the doubts, the grief, the moments when the numbers say “quit” and the people around you say “keep going.” The episode follows National Dairy Shrine Pioneers whose lives stretched from ten cows milked by hand to global genetics, from small-town beginnings to research that changed human health. Their credentials are impressive, sure, but what makes their stories powerful is how they handled loss, risk, and responsibility when no one was watching.

Whether you’re breeding the next generation of show winners, crunching data on fertility and health, or just trying to get chores done before the school bus arrives, you’ll hear yourself in these decisions: Who do you help when the pressure hits? How do you lead when you’re exhausted? Where do you find the courage to pivot instead of fold? This episode offers not just ideas you can steal for your own business, but also a gut-check on what success really means in an industry that never stops asking for more.

When the drought, the diagnosis, or the market crash hits your farm, will the story people tell about you be that you protected your own position—or that you were the one who kept the barn lights on for everyone else?

For more on the people featured in this episode, visit https://www.thebullvine.com/breeder-profiles/they-kept-the-barn-lights-on/ to read the full written profiles and dig into related articles, insights, and resources that build on the themes you’ll hear today. If this conversation hits close to home, subscribe or follow The Bullvine Podcast on Apple Podcasts and wherever you listen so you don’t miss upcoming stories. And if you’ve lived your own version of this journey, share it with us—reach out through The Bullvine website or connect on social media. Your story might be the one that keeps someone else’s barn lights on.

Most of us were taught to trust our eye and our “kind” when picking Holstein heifers. But what if breeding by coat color and style is quietly costing you real money in 2025? In this episode of The Bullvine Podcast, we dig into genomic data, heat-stress research, and beef-on-dairy economics that challenge some of the most deeply held assumptions in dairy breeding. You’ll hear how the genes that control color are not the genes that drive milk and fertility, why genomic selection has doubled genetic gain while accelerating inbreeding, and how a smarter semen and replacement strategy can unlock more than $4 per hundredweight in some herds.

Key Takeaways

· Why pigment genes like MC1R and COPA have almost nothing to do with the main milk and fertility loci driving Net Merit, Pro$ and other profit indexes.

· How genomic selection cut sire generation intervals nearly in half and doubled genetic progress in Holsteins—while also pushing genomic inbreeding and ROH higher each year.

· Where coat color really does matter: the impact of darker coats on heat load, THI, milk yield, and components in hot climates and dry-lot systems.

· How 2025 beef-on-dairy modelling shows cull cows and beef-on-dairy calves can contribute $4+/cwt to margins in well-managed herds, changing the math on which cows get beef semen.

· A practical, step-by-step breeding playbook: one-year “test every heifer” genomics, using a single economic index as your compass, genomic mating to manage inbreeding, and aligning sexed Holstein vs beef semen with true replacement needs.

· Why your eye is still essential—but as a fresh-cow and daily management tool—while genomics and economics take over more of the long-term selection decisions.

For show notes, links to the featured research, and the full Bullvine feature article behind this episode, visit https://www.thebullvine.com/genetics/stop-breeding-by-color-genomics-heat-stress-and-beef%e2%80%91on%e2%80%91dairy-math-that-can-add-over-4-cwt-to-holstein-margins/. If you’re serious about genetics, margins, and staying ahead of the next wave of dairy innovation, make sure you follow The Bullvine Podcast on Apple Podcasts and your preferred platform. Share your thoughts, questions, and on-farm experiences with genomics, heat stress and beef-on-dairy on our social channels—tag The Bullvine on Facebook and X so your ideas can shape future episodes.

Picture this: a two‑month‑old heifer shoved into a gunny sack, riding home on the back seat of a car from a Kansas wheat farm. She’d just sold for seventy‑five dollars in a package deal, placed 21st out of 22 the first time she ever hit a show ring, and almost stayed a 4‑H project no one outside the county fair would remember. That calf became Snowboots Wis Milky Way—EX‑97‑3E‑GMD—and the brood cow behind one of the most influential sires of the 20th century. This episode walks through the decisions, risks, and near‑misses that turned “just another heifer” into a cow whose influence still runs through modern pedigrees—and it might change how you look at the cows standing in your own pen tonight.

The Story You’ll Hear

• The local district show where Snowboots placed second‑last—and why that didn’t stop one breeder from seeing something everyone else missed.
• The sleepless night a Kansas dairyman spent deciding whether to sell the best cow he’d ever owned, and the reason he finally let her go.
• The moment Snowboots walked into Paclamar and stood stall‑to‑stall with Harborcrest Rose Milly, setting up one of the greatest two‑cow lineups the Holstein breed has ever seen.
• The day Paclamar took both Grand and Reserve at Waterloo—and how it felt in the ring when “the old friend” was still winning at nearly twelve years of age.
• The breeding decision that made no sense on paper: mating one of the top cows in the breed to an unproven young bull, simply because the cow families “felt right.”
• The dispersal where Bootmaker didn’t impress at first glance, and why the early daughters nearly scared his biggest supporters away.
• How those same daughters quietly turned into 100 Gold Medal Dams, anchoring cow families from Colorado to Europe.
• The night Snowboots died in her box stall—no drama, no struggle—and what the people who worked with her every day still say about her temperament and heart.
• The Italian branch of the family: the Snowboots granddaughter who sold for $20,000, crossed the ocean, and produced a three‑time national champion.

The Bigger Question - If a $75 heifer in a gunny sack could end up shaping cow families and sire summaries for decades, what might you be walking past in your own barn today because it doesn’t fit the current fashion or the latest index?

To dive deeper into Snowboots Wis Milky Way, Paclamar Bootmaker, and the cow families featured in this episode, visit https://www.thebullvine.com/donor-profile/snowboots-wis-milky-way-from-gunny-sack-calf-to-everyones-favorite-brood-cow/ for the full written profile, photos, and related articles. While you’re there, subscribe to The Bullvine Podcast so you never miss a story that challenges how you think about cows, breeding, and the future of your herd.

Have a brood cow, bull, or breeder story you think the industry needs to hear? Share it with us on The Bullvine’s social channels and keep the conversation going.

Your ration balances perfectly on paper. Your genetics are proven. So why does the bulk tank keep coming up short? A groundbreaking 2024 AI study reveals that the rumen microbiome—not your feed ingredients—accounts for 36% of the variation in feed efficiency among Holstein cows. That's a factor as powerful as genetics and diet combined, yet most operations aren't managing it. This episode exposes the three everyday management gaps quietly draining your tank and lays out a four-phase playbook that progressive herds are using to recover $500–700 per cow annually. If you've ever blamed the ration when the real problem was the routine, this is the episode that changes how you think about feeding cows.

Key Takeaways

• Why the rumen microbiome now rivals genetics and ration formulation as a driver of feed efficiency—and what that means for your margins
• The "Saturday Morning Problem": How weekend feed-time drift and overnight bunk gaps cost 3.5 lb of DMI and 7.9 lb of milk per cow per day
• TMR dry matter swings: The silent profit thief nobody tests often enough
• Particle size and sorting: Why your cows may be eating three different rations from the same bunk
• The four-phase microbiome-aware playbook: timing, physical ration, DM checks, then additives—in that order
• Why live yeast and buffers can't fix bad timing or a sortable ration
• Real economics: Modeling $500,000–700,000 in recoverable margin on a 1,000-cow herd
• How this approach scales from 80-cow tiestalls to 8,000-cow dry lot systems

This episode challenges the assumption that a balanced ration equals optimized performance. Drawing on peer-reviewed research from UC Davis, Penn State extension data, and real-world herd observations, we break down exactly how inconsistent feeding routines destabilize the microbial communities inside your cows—and what that instability costs in milk, butterfat, and dollars.

You'll hear how a 10-hour overnight feed gap triggers slug-feeding behavior that crashes rumen pH and washes out fiber-digesting bacteria. We quantify what happens when TMR moisture drifts unnoticed and when cows sort around long particles to eat a starch-heavy diet you never intended.

More importantly, we deliver a clear, phased action plan. Phase 1: tighten feed delivery and push-ups. Phase 2: tune particle size with the Penn State Separator. Phase 3: make weekly DM checks routine. Phase 4: layer in live yeast as a fine-tuning tool—not a band-aid.

The economic modeling is specific and conservative. Even capturing half the projected upside represents a six-figure annual swing for larger operations. For smaller family herds, the per-cow math is identical—and the advantage is that you're already walking the alleys every day.

We also address where this approach goes wrong: partial implementation, overestimating labor capacity, and expecting additives to solve structural problems. This isn't theory. It's a prioritization framework built on data that helps you decide where your next management tweak should be.

Ready to put this into action? Visit https://www.thebullvine.com/management/nutrition/unlock-700-per-cow-the-rumen-microbiome-strategy-that-fixes-hidden-feed-efficiency-losses/ to read the full feature article, download the practical starting checklist, and access links to the research cited in this episode.

Your calf starter's guaranteed analysis says "molasses." What it doesn't say is whether this batch contains 39% sugar or 67%—a swing documented in peer-reviewed research that represents one of the widest compositional variances in animal nutrition. This episode challenges a dangerous assumption most producers make: that identical feed tags deliver identical nutrition. They don't. And for operations investing $5-6 per day raising replacement heifers, that hidden variability may be the difference between calves that survive and calves that thrive. If you've ever noticed performance dips that don't match management changes, unexplained intake variability, or inconsistent weaning results—this episode reveals what might actually be driving those patterns.

Key Takeaways:

• Why molasses sucrose content can swing 28 percentage points between batches—and what that means for rumen development
• The functional differences between cane and beet molasses that feed tags never specify
• How DCAD variability in molasses affects calves differently than mature cows—and why their limited buffering capacity matters
• The subtle performance indicators that signal ingredient inconsistency before clinical problems appear
• Five specific questions to ask your feed supplier that reveal their true commitment to quality
• A 90-day monitoring approach to identify variability effects without waiting for first-lactation data
• The economic case for ingredient consistency: calculating hidden costs most producers never track
• Why the supply chain makes consistency challenging—and what "Fixed-Process Assurance" actually means

This episode dissects research from the Journal of Dairy Science (Palmonari et al., 2020) that systematically characterized molasses samples from suppliers worldwide. The findings are striking: crude protein ranges from 2.2% to 15.6% depending on source, potassium varies nearly threefold, and DCAD swings over 200 milliequivalents between batches.

But here's what makes this episode essential listening: we connect the science to your calf barn. At typical inclusion rates of 5-7% of starter dry matter, these swings won't cause dramatic clinical crises. Instead, they manifest as the subtle inconsistencies that frustrate calf managers—intake curves that fluctuate after new deliveries, variable manure in older hutch calves, uneven weaning performance.

We examine field observations from Upper Midwest dairies where tracking feed deliveries against calf metrics revealed performance dips aligning with new starter batches—often because molasses sources changed without notification. Operations that switched to fixed-formulation starters reported smoother intake curves and more predictable outcomes.

The complete article with all research citations, comparison tables, and the full supplier question framework is available at https://www.thebullvine.com/management/nutrition/same-tag-different-feed-the-molasses-problem-your-calves-cant-tell-you-about/. Search "Same Tag Different Feed" or check the show notes for direct links.

Share this episode with your nutritionist, calf manager, or feed rep. Tag us on social media with your thoughts: Are you tracking feed deliveries against calf performance? What patterns have you noticed?

The Bullvine – Because satisfactory satisfies no one.

In 2006, Francisco Rodriguez didn't own a single registered cow. He was a kid from the Colombian hills who fell asleep studying North American bull catalogues, dreaming of championships he had no business chasing. Seventeen years later, cars were honking and crowds were literally chanting his cow's name as Shakira claimed Supreme Champion at World Dairy Expo. But standing there on the colored shavings, Francisco wasn't thinking about the banner. He was thinking about his wife's words a few years earlier: "Francisco, I'm done." This is the story of a man who learned that breeding world-class cows and building a world-class life require the same thing—patience measured in decades, not proof runs. And it might change how you think about what you're really building.

The Story You'll Hear:

• The moment a young vet walked away from a safe career to start a herd with 10 cows and a dream his neighbors thought was crazy
• Why he spent years memorizing cow families before he could afford to own one—and how that obsession became his edge
• The car ride with a Canadian Holstein legend that gave him the only breeding advice he'd ever need
• How a single mating decision in 2014 launched a ten-year journey to the Supreme banner
• The phone call from his wife that forced him to choose between his ambition and his family
• What Michael Jordan taught him about success—and why he now refuses to let business consume more than 25% of his life
• The "shower moment" in Colombia when watching his next champion win finally gave him language for what he'd been living all along
• Why he believes embryos are transformation and semen is evolution—and what that means for your herd's next decade

Francisco Rodriguez isn't just a breeder who got lucky with one cow. He's a fifth-generation cattleman who built Colganados from 10 cows to 400, bred roughly half of Colombia's national champions in the last decade, co-founded a tropical genetics company now operating across three continents, and still nearly watched his marriage collapse because he couldn't stop chasing the next win.

His story matters because it's the story every ambitious producer is living in some version right now—grinding through tight margins, heat stress, processor uncertainty, and the quiet question of whether any of it is actually building toward something that lasts.

In a year when GLP-1 drugs are reshaping demand, heat waves are costing farms real milk every July, and processors are getting pickier about who they keep, Francisco's "Decade Rule" isn't just philosophy. It's a survival framework for anyone asking: Am I breeding for the next ribbon, or for the next ten years?

You'll hear how he balances genomics with old-school eye, why he line-breeds to Apple without losing sleep, and how his 25-25-25-25 life framework—You, God, Relationships, Create—pulled his family back from the edge.

Subscribe to The Bullvine Podcast wherever you listen, and head to https://www.thebullvine.com/breeder-profiles/the-decade-rule-francisco-rodriguez-on-breeding-champions/ to read the full feature article on Francisco Rodriguez and the Decade Rule. You'll find the complete timeline from Shakira to Marsella, his breeding philosophy in detail, and exclusive photos from Colombia to Madison.

Because the best stories in this industry aren't just about cows. They're about the people stubborn enough to keep believing in them.