Navigating Ranching in an Urban World
Mathew May_1
Wed, 5/4 1:25PM • 21:06
SUMMARY KEYWORDS
consumer, beef, people, ranchers, animals, agriculture, calves, steps, selling, started, marketing, feed, cattle, program, ranching, soil scientist, operation, urbanization, sale barn, local
SPEAKERS
Shaye Koester, Mathew May
Shaye Koester 00:05
Hey hey, it's Shaye Koester and I'm your host and the founder of Casual Cattle Conversations, a global rancher education company that strives to bring honest thoughts and conversations from ranchers and leaders to other ranchers. Be sure to follow @cattleconvos on social media to have more in depth conversations around the ranching, business and lifestyle brought to you. If you're ready to take your operation to the next level and improve your lifestyle too send me a message about my RancherMind group. rancherminds are monthly roundtable discussions for ranchers to learn from peers and experts and leave a call with actionable advice to make changes on their own operations. With that, let's see who our guest is today and what experience and advice they have to offer you to improve your own operation. Alrighty. Well, thanks for hopping on the show today. I am excited to have you on here, because you've been following along at least on social media for a while.
Mathew May 01:07
Thanks for having me. I really appreciate it.
Shaye Koester 01:09
So just to start off, kind of like I do with every listener, I mean, it's fun. I haven't really done like a fan feature yet. But you know, would you just really share your background in ranching and how you got started?
Mathew May 01:23
I guess I started really as a kid just with subsistence agriculture. You know, we had a big garden. We had some cattle, chickens. and we did a little bit of trading, I guess you might say, with family members, as far as tomato plants, either out of the garden or out of the greenhouse, excuse me. And then we always butchered a calf, and maybe even a pig here and there, just for our own consumption, you know. Then in 2013, I ventured off on my own and started my own little deal and started selling beef to consumers and then it's now progressed to a retail option to include supplying some restaurants with some retail beef.
Shaye Koester 02:05
That's really neat. And I think that's really a big push right now is that direct-to-consumer and even like sourcing to restaurants. So it's cool to see you do that. You said in 2013, you kind of started your own operation, what really pushed you to start doing your own thing.
Mathew May 02:25
As is often the case, sometimes families don't really see eye-to-eye and that was the case then and rather than try to continue to fight verbally, obviously with with family, I just went off on my own. If I was controlling my stuff, then I can make the decisions for the direction of my program. We like to use that word program.
Shaye Koester 02:47
Well, awesome. So what is that program today? Do you want to talk a little bit more in depth about what that looks like outside of sourcing beef to restaurants and selling calves to consumers?
Mathew May 02:57
Sure. I have a seedstock program. So I'm more primarily focused on selling breeding bulls and even if necessary, breeding females to commercial operators. As is always the case, you're going to have animals that cull themselves either because they're not good enough to be a breeding bull or they're a female that won't breed or she won't breed back or you'd have other issues. If you're a progressive breeder, you're going to make those decisions and it's nice when you can capitalize on those animals that would otherwise just bring you a commercial value price that you know whatever's going on at the local sale barn. And you can capitalize on those on those animals and really keep the economy funded here in the in the local areas, and everyone can do that and not just here in Central Texas.
Shaye Koester 03:45
Well, that's awesome. So is there like a specific breed you're fond of? Or what does that look like for you?
Mathew May 03:50
Yes, I'm a registered Beef Master breeder. Sorry, I didn't really go into that earlier.
Shaye Koester 03:57
Hey, that's just fine. I was just curious. So kind of hopping into another side of your story that kind of makes you know, part of your story unique is so you're an amputee and so you share some unique challenges there. Would you kind of talk about that story and really how that's impacted your view of ranching?
Mathew May 04:18
Well, it's definitely made things a little harder. In the words of Temple Grandin, my life is different, but not less. I may not be able to do things exactly the way I did it, but I can certainly still accomplish just about everything I was doing before. I'm not going to take a running start and jump over a fence anymore. But who the heck needs to do that anyway? It's definitely made me more conscious of doing stuff, I guess the easier way or excuse me, the more efficient way as far as physical limitations, and certainly to really just kind of keep it simple, stupid, and that's talking about me now as the stupid one.
Shaye Koester 05:00
Well, it's awesome to see that you are still living your dream and really, you know, maybe inspiring others to do the same. So looking at, you know, you said, you're in Central Texas. So can you talk about the challenges you face ranching in that area? Or maybe what agriculture looks like in that area? Because I know you and I have talked before on the phone and kind of talked about urbanization and some of those challenges. So what's your perspective on being a rancher in Central Texas?
Mathew May 05:34
Well, as has been agriculture's theme, we have to adapt. Challenges present themselves both environmentally and economically and just all around. So we have to adapt. One way to adapt to this urban sprawl that's going on is you have to find ways to continue to produce efficiently. But even we have to go even more efficient now, utilizing cover crops and just being okay with having smaller herd sizes, smaller contemporary groups within the herds to make it work. It's hard to find land around here. So you have to make use of what you got. If all you have is a 47 acre lease, you cross fence and you fertilize and weed spray and try to do some cover crops and stuff like that, just to try to maximize the square footage, that you've got
Shaye Koester 06:26
Are cover crops something you've implemented personally, then?
Mathew May 06:30
At the direction of someone that's smarter than I am. I don't make a habit of ignoring people that are smarter than I am and there's a soil scientist that lives close by. And that's Liz Haney. I'll give a shout out. Hey, Liz. Her and her husband, Rick are both soil science scientists and in her direction, she probably doesn't know this, but I've implemented some cover crops just to try to maximize the production value of the land I'm using.
Shaye Koester 06:57
Well, that's awesome to hear. I know that is something that's been talked about a little more on the show and something I've been exposed to a lot in my time in Nebraska, and even back home in North Dakota to just listening to kind of some of those more professional soil scientist, as you said. So going back to how you are ranching in Central Texas, you've already talked about how you kind of struggle to maybe have as much land as you'd like. So you have to get creative there, because there are a lot of urban areas. You're already marketing direct to the consumer and direct to the restaurant. So would you say you have an advantage at connecting to the consumer because of where you live? And that, you know, that's actually powerful for agriculture?
Mathew May 07:42
Oh, absolutely. There's an educational side and a marketing side, which I guess they're kind of connected. People get to see firsthand how their food products in this case, beef is being produced because they drive by it every day. Next to one of my leases, there's a subdivision, so people that leave that subdivision, they drive right by a field of cows, and their calves and they get to see, hey, that's that's where Matt has his stuff. It gives an opportunity to reach out to consumers and even potential consumers. Just to say, Hey, this is what we're trying to do. This is why we're trying to do it. This is how we're doing it and here are the animals. And surprisingly, even people that are not from agricultural backgrounds, they end up enjoying what a friend of mine called "Meet your Meat", which is a pretty neat deal when the consumers, not only do they want local beef, but they they also want to see this specific animal that they're going to be putting in their freezer.
Shaye Koester 08:41
So have you gone out of your way more than just, you know, connecting with people in the area as far as selling beef to them? As far as like being an advocate for agriculture? What does your advocacy involvement kind of look like? How do you play that part as a rancher?
Mathew May 08:59
Well, social media has certainly played a role. It allows you to connect with people you wouldn't be able to connect with. I work at a feed store and we're starting to expand the horizon or scope of that feed store to not just be a feed store to you know, have garden plants. Of course, that's always been the case, we now have a freezer in that feed store and having dog food brings people in the door and you get to engage with locals to to kind of spread your spread your story.
Shaye Koester 09:33
Well, that's awesome. I'm glad to hear that. So from your perspective, do you believe that ranchers need to be doing more with connecting to the consumer
Mathew May 09:44
They certainly can be doing more. Whether or not they do is kind of up to them. Unfortunately, the market will correct itself and the market will dictate what the market is going to dictate. We have to adapt. It's not an option in order to be successful. Longterm both environmentally and economically we have to adapt now. We should be taking steps right now to be able to adapt in the future. This is a slow process, this business agriculture itself, it's a marathon, it's not a sprint, you have to be taking steps now to be able to maintain the long term productivity of your program. What would you say some of those steps look like? Well, I'm not as well versed in the financial side of things, you know, as far as financial planning, but you know, take steps now to try to avoid inheritance taxes. Put your cattle operation in an LLC, so you can run it like a business. The phrase, oh, we just do this as a hobby. That doesn't work anymore. It can work for a short time, but if we're going to maintain our progress as an industry we have to take steps now to maintain that longevity.
Shaye Koester 11:08
Do you think, you know if producers did do more of their part to share kind of on an advocacy level or even just look at it as marketing, that that would help combat urbanization.
Mathew May 11:20
I don't know that that single handedly would stop or curb urban sprawl or urbanization. It would certainly bridge the gap, because there's such a disconnect between the consumption and the production of our foods, myself included, I'm not quite as connected with the people that grow my vegetables. I'm more focused on beef production. But I do think bridging that gap would open people's eyes to hey, maybe we shouldn't sell papa's farm. Maybe we should lease it out or do something that it can make it more productive than just square footage for homes. Well, that's awesome. So I'm gonna shift gears here in the conversation. So in a previous conversation, we've had you were talking about thinking globally and acting locally. So can you explain what you mean by that, as it relates to the agriculture space and how you you are living that out? Well, like I said, before what we do on our own program, it does affect the globe. But really, it's really just going to affect what we're doing on a day to day and our local, I guess, region. We have to take steps to work together to run our programs better. I mean, it's not just a simple own and do better. We have to have a set of metrics to try to measure. We can't manage it if we don't measure it and the only way we're going to do that is by measuring our success. And it's not just oh, I made money. I think if more ranchers were looking at people that were eating their product, I think it would increase a little bit of accountability. And not only boost the local economy, but it would just encourage others to become more vested in agriculture and not just going to the grocery store, open up a cooler and getting the package.
Shaye Koester 13:16
What do you mean by increased accountability? Can you expand on that?
Mathew May 13:21
Well, when the consumer that's eating your product, it lives a few doors down, you're gonna hear about, hey, this tasted like this, or, Hey, I bought some ground meat from you and it was a little fattier than I thought it would be, or this was this or, you know, anytime we go to a grocery store, all we can do is just go take the product back to the grocery store and say, Hey, this happened or this, this packaging was damaged. Whenever you're looking at the consumer in the eye, you're gonna have feedback good and bad and you can either you know, wallow in that criticism, or you can try to do better. That includes finding a better butcher, finding a better feed program, doing something different in your in your cow herd on the cow calf side, or on the backgrounding side, all of those things. They all make us better.
Shaye Koester 14:14
So how do you view that accountability? You have that accountability from the standpoint of you are selling direct to consumers, but where do you think that can play in for those who aren't selling direct to consumers?
Mathew May 14:29
I would just open it up as an option for them. I think too many consumers or too many producers, excuse me just think oh, there's no way I could do that and it's really not if they already are set up as a cow calf operation or even as a backgrounding operation to try to do that. I think it's breaking down some of those preconceived notions that we have about, oh, I can't afford to feed these animals. I just need to take them to the sale barn. I started very small selling the majority of my animals to the sale barn and just keeping one or two back each year to try to try to butcher for personal consumption and then for friends and family. And once it expanded, I had to find a place where I could kill animals under a USDA inspection to try to sell inspected meat. And that's how it starts. All it takes is one. Most of these guys and girls are already booking their own meat anyway, and they're just eating it at home. So they've already done it. They've really already taken the steps necessary. They just need to reach out to some friends that they want to sell their beef to and maybe develop a set feeding program and find a place to kill that's inspected, and boom, there you go. Now we're sizzlin.
Shaye Koester 15:50
I appreciate you making that point that when we're you know, having our own animals harvested to come back and feed ourselves, we are already selling to the consumer because we are the consumer too. Sometimes I think we forget to remind ourselves that yes, we're the producer, but we're also a producer and a consumer of the product we raise.
Mathew May 16:10
Yes, and we're also a business and when it gets down to it, there's a lot of unrealized gains and potential as far as the financial side, that you're just giving away the just the cow calf side, if you wean your calves and background them just a little bit, you've already added value that sometimes you don't get compensated for at the sale barn. But then if you just keep them a little bit longer to add a little bit of weight to them, put some fat cover on them. I mean, you don't have to, you don't have to have a finished animal with the commercial industry calls a finished animal. If you've got a pretty good weaning weights, you're not that far off from a harvest weight. Right there, you got a product ready to sell that has incredible value to both you and to the consumer and to the local economy because that money stays here. It doesn't go up to the Panhandle, Kansas or Nebraska, not that that's a bad thing. Commercially produced beef and conventional beef production is a great thing. It's a well oiled machine. There are just different ways to do it and this is just one way.
Shaye Koester 17:20
I appreciate you sharing your perspective on that and really looking at the industry as a whole. So, as we kind of wrap up today, one of those final questions that I I love to ask is a mindset question to every one of my guests. So what mindset change do you think we need to have when it comes to the beef industry?
Mathew May 17:41
That's a pretty tough one. I would say definitely sustainability from a production and environmental standpoint. Also, from a marketing standpoint and I guess an economical standpoint. And just bridging that gap. That's so huge it it, when you can talk to the people that are consuming your product. It will spur something in your head that hey, you know what, I could do this. And I talked to people weekly. And you can see the wheels turning? Wait, I can do that. Oh, well. I didn't know that and try it there you have another local beef producer that I see in the future as operating almost as coops maybe where people are feeding into a feeding program that is local, butchered local market and it just stays within each specific region. But that may be pie in the sky. I hope that's where it goes. Just don't settle. That's another big thing people just assume Okay, well, papa did it like this, so this is the way, we're gonna do it. Don't settle for that status quo. A buddy of mine that runs our seedstock marketing program. He always says don't settle for the status quo. And it's so true. Just because it was working in 1995 Doesn't mean it's working in 2022. And it doesn't mean it's going to work in 2035. If we're going to lead into the lead the charge into the horizon of whatever this world comes, or whatever this world brings. We're gonna have to do better and not settle for sale barn prices or don't settle for oh, well, that's, that's what my buyer gives me. That's what you know, what XYZ cattle auction are cattle marketing. That's what they give me. So that's just what I've got to take. No, it's not. No, it's not the you have options out there. And all it's going to do is make you better. It's going to make your cattle better. It's going to make your program better and it's going to make the local economy better. And you may have a business on your hands you didn't even know about.
Shaye Koester 19:49
Well, thank you for sharing that. I really appreciate your perspective today. Do you have any final thoughts or perspectives you'd like to share before we wrap up?
Mathew May 20:02
I would say just expand on what people are doing right, we hear all the time what we're doing wrong, especially in the in beef world. We have to be willing to admit where we can improve and actively take steps to do so. We have to set goals. It's not just laissez faire. We're going to put a bull out there and some cows are bought by a few black by a few black calves and feed them out and be done with it. Set specific goals that benefit both the beef industry as a whole and each individual program and I guess we'll just see where we go. I'm hopeful for the future of beef, even in an area where I'm experiencing tons of urban sprawl. I'm still hopeful.
Shaye Koester 20:44
Well, that's exciting. Thank you very much for joining me today. It was great to have you on here.
Mathew May 20:49
Yes, ma'am. Thanks so much.
Shaye Koester 20:51
And that's a wrap on that one. Be sure to let me know your thoughts on the episode and if you have any further questions around the topic, take care and have a great day.
