Our dream is to have a quality replacement female video sale. We'll have four to 600 people there in person. And then, Ty, you'd have to tell me how many people worldwide will be watching the sale on on live ag, on the day of that sale, but I'm sure tens of thousands.
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Announcer:Value added nutrition partners trusted by cattle producers across the country. Now here are your hosts, Ty deCordova and Casey Mabry.
Ty deCordova:Welcome back to the We Live It Podcast. Myself, Ty deCordova, and cohost Casey Mabry here. Just welcome y'all back and thank y'all for joining us today. I don't like Casey had a control of my mic, so he's been messing with my mic today. So but, Casey, what's up?
Ty deCordova:How you been?
Casey Mabry:Man, just been good, you know, following the cattle markets have been highly volatile, and so trying to keep that controlled, I guess, or at least I
Ty deCordova:thought we weren't talking about that today.
Casey Mabry:It depends on what day you want to talk about it, Yeah. True. That's true.
Announcer:So that, know, kids chasing that stuff around with life and all that stuff.
Ty deCordova:And kids keep us busy, and this market keeps us, I mean, on their toes, like you said, just trying to figure out day to day what to do, and then you got people calling and asking you advice on what we sell now, how do we wait, is this thing's going to get worse or it's going get better? I'm like, you got a pair of dice you want to roll with me? I'll
Casey Mabry:be honest. It's become normal. Yeah.
Ty deCordova:I it's just such big swings nowadays that we're just rolling the dice. Well, we're joined today by Andy Holloway up from Hemphill County Beef Conference. Kinda, Andy, you wanna kinda give us your background and then we'll kinda go into into talking about some of the conference stuff. You wanna kinda give us your background and where you come from and where you've been?
Andy Holloway:Sure. Well, thanks, Ty, to you and Casey for having me on as your guest today. I was born and raised right here in the Texas Panhandle, Holdem and Moore Counties. So my dream was to go to Texas A and M. So I was on the livestock meats team there.
Andy Holloway:I was on the before y'all were probably born, was on the nineteen seventy nine international champion meats judging team at Texas A and M. I'm an animal science major, and, I had a marketing company called Ash Marketing Service for about thirty five years that we sold purebred and commercial replacement females. So cattle in 29 different states through that career, both at public auction and also private treaty. I started my own registered Angus herd in 2003 and grew from seven females, seven registered Angus females to 500 within five years and, got caught in the drought of twenty ten, eleven, and twelve, and unfortunately lost all of that and nearly died through that drought. But God saved my life, and, my dad had been a county extension agent for the whole of his career here in the Texas Panhandle.
Andy Holloway:So I had to have a job when I lost my cattle. I started with Texas A and M AgriLife Extension in 2013, and I just retired from extension December 31. During that time, I started this amazing beef cattle conference. It started out Ty just kind of as you'd call a multi county beef cattle conference for our county here, Hemphill County, Canadian, Texas, and then the surrounding counties. We had 85 people at our first conference in April 2015.
Andy Holloway:It went so well that we started a trade show the second year in '16, moved it out to an event center here in Canadian called Jones Pavilion. And, that thing has grown. We started with 16 trade show vendors in '16, and we're gonna have about a 130 trade show vendors this coming April. And somewhere between 800 and a thousand people will be here from well, in '25, we had people from 24 US states and four foreign countries, Australia, Canada, Ireland, and South South Africa, I guess it was. And so it it's here we are out here in the middle of the prairie in a small rural community in the Northeastern part of the Texas Panhandle where where we have tall grass and, not short grass.
Andy Holloway:And, you know, I never dreamed that this conference would would take off like this. And by the description of people like, Colin Woodall and, oh, other people that are industry leaders, around the whole United States. This event's become a national or maybe even an international beef cattle event. Ty, it's mainly ranchers that come with cow calf operations, but we do have some stocker cattle programs that attend and then we have a few feed yards. One of the growing trends of the beef conference is the beef on dairy people.
Andy Holloway:So we've got dairy people even coming now that are breeding their dairy cows to beef bulls. So it's a diversified crowd. It's a two day event. We feed everybody prime rib and steaks and barbecue. And, I think what you wanna talk about is our new event that we're gonna have this year, that we're gonna call the River City Quality Replacement Female Sale right here in Canadian, Texas, where the Canadian River runs right through our town.
Andy Holloway:So, I'll let you take it from there. That's kind of my background.
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Casey Mabry:So Andy, I'm a meat judge myself. So I was on the Texas Tech. I'm a Texas Tech Red Raider. Yes, sir. I wanted to go to Texas A and M, but I don't think I was smart enough to get in there.
Casey Mabry:And so I ended up going to tech and judging meets there. So that's interesting you were part of that program in 1979. Who was on your judging team in 1979?
Andy Holloway:Well, you might know Ken Jordan at Jordan Cattle Auction. Ken was on there. You might know Kathy Buckholtz from GKB. Kathy and I were teammates. Trey Kirkpatrick from down in Ty's country right right there around.
Andy Holloway:Brian was on that team. Chris Foster from Elektra. Randall Wunderlich from from Fredericksburg, Walton Hyman from Fredericksburg, oh, Weinheimer. It's I can't think of Don Weinheimer. I'm sorry.
Andy Holloway:I was having a senior moment there. And, anyway, we had a great team. That that Fredericksburg bunch now, I mean, they knew how to judge meat. And, frankly, I was kinda like the scout team. Those guys were so good.
Andy Holloway:I wasn't up to their level, but I helped make them good so we could win the contest, Casey.
Casey Mabry:Who coached you guys?
Andy Holloway:Doctor. Glenn Dolozol. Did do you know Yeah.
Ty deCordova:That's what
Andy Holloway:I was thinking.
Casey Mabry:I know Doctor. Dolozol well. I went to, Whenever I was judging, he would have been at Oklahoma State, and then I worked at Cargill for a lot of years with Doctor. Dulazol. And so I either knew that he was on your team, or you guys judged, or he coached you guys.
Casey Mabry:So no, that's just a familiar deal. And I think it's interesting to step back and look at the people that are on those judging teams. And Ty and I always talk about these youth programs, whether it's livestock shows or judging contests and things like that, to step back and think about you guys that have been so successful, and then look back at where you kinda came from and what, you know, at some point, all of us were 20 year olds trying to make a life, you know? And so it's interesting how great that is. Those judging teams, like even mine that I was on, I step back and look at where those people are twenty five, thirty years later on where we're at.
Casey Mabry:But I get to go back to a lot of the reunions, and I know a lot of the Aggie judges that, we have along the way. So the thing that you guys have done over there in Hemphill County, or you have done, and then put that program together I mean, obviously there's lots of counties across the state that put these beef cattle symposium or conferences on. I mean, you guys have, like, rivaled some of the bigger state associations as far as that goes. I mean, it's something that's highly sought after, for sure. And it's a great example on what people can do if you put a little effort and have some passion around it for sure.
Casey Mabry:What do you think the biggest thing that got you guys kicked off rolling whenever you started off with those 85 people, you know, several years ago and it kinda got to where you're at now? What do you think the success has been that's driven that? It's a lot of the prime rib dinner, of course.
Andy Holloway:You know, my skill set that I brought to the table from all those judging experience, I went to A and M to judge livestock and our livestock judging team coach required that we'd be on the meats team. That was one of the best things ever happened to me. I learned more on that meats team and it really propelled my livestock career in the contest that I did really well in following my meats team career. But Casey, to answer your question, I spent a whole year here in the county trying to figure out what the people wanted. And the ranchers here had a real need for ag education, for beef cattle and ranch management education.
Andy Holloway:So I together what I called an ag committee. At that time, I think my first one had eight or maybe 10 local ranchers and a few agribusiness people on it, our county judge. That committee's grown really to about 18 or 19 people these days. And one of the real recipes to the success besides my my own networking and knowledge of the business and and the the key parts that I've been able to bring to the table myself, but it it's been these these, community leaders, these ag committee members that have really got behind my efforts and have become a team with me, and they've taken ownership in it. And it's like, you know, granted, it's it's kinda my doing, but they put wind in my sails and and then they help me with it.
Andy Holloway:And and what's happened from that, Katie, is Canadian's a town of about 2,500 people, and it started out as a ranch town. It's of the the ultra sweet part of Texas ranch in history, of this area. But this region became an oil and gas community about thirty five, forty, fifty years ago. And there's a lot of people that live here that are associated to the oil and gas part of Hemphill County. But what's interesting about that is this whole community has taken ownership in this beef conference because we bring a lot of people to town.
Andy Holloway:They appreciate that our hotels are full. Our restaurants are full. They they just become my teammates. So everybody promotes this beef conference, and it's kinda put Canadian on the map, particularly in the world of agriculture. And it's so it's the the atmosphere or the environment of of ownership where people feel like they're a part of it, has really made it special.
Andy Holloway:And and and, you know, I'm gonna say this, and I'm not throwing rocks at anybody or any other organization, but we don't do it like most, events. We we have we do have these educational speakers, but and we have the trade show. But, guys, we have fun at this event. We the ranchers like networking, and they like they like cutting up with each other. And we have a big keynote speaker.
Andy Holloway:We've had Sarah Huckabry Sanders, who was president Trump's first press secretary, and now she's the governor of Arkansas. We've had the secretary of state Mike Pompeo. We've had Willie Robertson of Duck Dynasty. We've had Kaylee McEnany, the second press secretary. So people are drawn to that.
Andy Holloway:And I've just created a recipe. Something that I think is pretty special about it is Donald Brown and Ryan Rathman. You probably know Doctor. Rathman, Texas Tech. He's an Aggie by the way, but he wound up at Texas Tech.
Andy Holloway:Those two guys are our moderators. And man, those guys are such good speakers and they're leaders, they're highly respected. So the people that we bring into this are like cream of the crop. And so the ranchers that attend to learn and to network and all those things, they really enjoy that because it's not just, I don't know how to choose my words where I don't step on somebody's toes, but it's people that are really passionate about the business, and they're not just professionals from some endeavor or institution that kinda have a can talk. You know?
Andy Holloway:These are we're bringing in people that are are the world's best to be the the speakers at this deal. And then I'm gonna just tell you, the trade show exhibitors are the world's best agribusinesses.
Casey Mabry:It
Andy Holloway:is phenomenal how that's grown. You know, we're we're getting so many. Ty put up, we outgrew the Jones Pavilion. So we put up a 40 by one forty structure tent. Now we've outgrown it and we put up another 40 by one forty that adjoins it.
Andy Holloway:And and now we've outgrown it. And so I'm putting up the fourth tent this year just because of the demand for space. So well, that just shows you. It's fun and it's a great place to be.
Ty deCordova:Who is your speaker this year?
Andy Holloway:Well, that's kind of a little bit up in the air right at the moment. We've got a guy named Anthony Sandoria from Phoenix, Arizona, and he's not a known name like those other names that I told you, but, he's a guy that started a company in his basement of his house at 21 years of age with his brand new wife. He's a marketing genius, this guy. And he's 33 or four years old and he just sold his company for 70 something million. And he and his wife have their first baby and he's a spirit filled Christian man.
Andy Holloway:And he credits the Lord for the marketing strategies that he's been able to learn. And basically that's what he's gonna share is those kind of marketing strategies that work for any business, the cattle business or any other kind of business. Then we've got a surprise.
Casey Mabry:It sounds like he might be a pretty good guy to give him a bidder number for that replacement sale.
Ty deCordova:He needs to stock up, I think.
Andy Holloway:That's right. We we've got another potential Ty surprise guest that I'm not really ready to introduce, but I will give you a little hint. There'll be some secret service people with this person.
Ty deCordova:Yeah. All good. All good. So let's, you got a new deal you're gonna do this year. Let's kind of talk on that.
Ty deCordova:You've added replacement female cell. So kind of visit how that structure come along and what you're gonna do there.
Andy Holloway:Well, my ag committee listened to a suggestion that I made to them about having a commercial replacement female. We started talking about this several years ago, but we had all these wildfires back in 2024 in this area, burned over 70% of this county. And the timing was just not right for us to do it at that time. But it is right now because we had a big rainfall year last year and the cattle market's just zooming. There's such a demand for quality replacement females.
Andy Holloway:So Ty, as you know, we approached yourself and Jason Barber, who I've known Jason his whole life practically, and I was with his parents at a party Saturday night in Amarillo. Dale and Marianne are just like salt of the earth people and the best Hereford breeders in America. And anyway, Jason and I just started talking about this four, five years ago and just kept batting it around. And then when you guys transitioned to live ag and you wanted our business, we made a deal. And I'm so excited and my ag committee is so excited about this.
Andy Holloway:So our dream is to have a quality replacement female video sale. We'll have four to 600 people there in person. And then Ty, you'd have to tell me how many people worldwide will be watching the sale on on live ag on the day of that sale, but I'm sure tens of thousands.
Ty deCordova:And be pretty good attended to.
Andy Holloway:Yes, sir. And so we're going to have commercial open heifers, bred heifers, young bred cows, and some pears. And we've screened all these cattle or will be screening these cattle to make sure that they're the right kind, that they fit the industry. And frankly, our dream is, and I'm kinda known for kicking at the moon. And when I fall on my butt, just get get up and keep kicking at it till I hit it.
Andy Holloway:And so our dream is is to make this the number one replacement video sale And I know it'll take some years. We're not trying to to make it great big from the very beginning, but we hope it will grow and we think it will. And I know that I've saddled up with some great people through LiveAg, and and these consignors are gonna be real grateful for the work that you guys do. And I I just know it's gonna be a great event.
Ty deCordova:I'll go ahead and speak on our on our side too. The the deadline for that is April 20. And if you wanna go to live-ag.com, there's a button on the homepage there for consignments or to reach out to one of your local reps to consign something or get the cattle screened to make sure they'll fit the protocol. Because I want to reiterate what Andy said was when I wanted to make it real big, want to make it real good. And then if it turns real big after being real good, then we're fine with that.
Ty deCordova:But we're going to concentrate on quality and not quantity. We want to make sure when you purchase something out of this thing, you're purchasing a quality set of females. We're going to stick to a pretty strict protocol when we select these females. And I think that's what's going to make it so great years to come. I mean, it's gonna take us a little while to build it, doubt, but if we'll stick to that, if we'll stick to our plan, this thing will be an elite female cell.
Ty deCordova:So I'm excited about it.
Andy Holloway:Yes, sir. And everybody I talked to, said, man, what a brilliant idea that this is. It's, you know, we try to keep our beef cattle conference fresh and, and viable, something that's interesting and useful and valuable to everybody, and this sale is gonna be that. So, Ty, I just wanna invite your your podcast listening audience. Our beef cattle conference is Tuesday and Wednesday, April.
Andy Holloway:It's always the last Tuesday and Wednesday of April every year. And this female sale that we're talking about will be kinda right after lunch about 02:00. And we're calling it, as I said, the River City Quality Replacement Female Sale. And I just wanna invite people. If you we could take as few as ten, ten open heifers, 10 bred heifers, 10 pairs, 10 bred cows, young cows, or we can take them in truckload lots.
Andy Holloway:And the smaller buyers are gonna have a chance to buy 10 or more when they get the bid. So everybody's gonna be able to participate. The big ranches could could swoop in and buy truckloads at a time if that's what they need. And, so so it's really been designed to fit fit every person. And, and I'm really looking forward to it, and I think it's gonna be a great great opportunity for the buyers, for the sellers, for the beef cattle conference.
Ty deCordova:And another thing I wanna add before we before we wrap up here, we we kinda need to wrap up. But another thing I wanna add is, part of the proceeds will go back into a scholarship fund, Hemphill County Beef Conferences Scholarship Fund, so that's good for everybody to know that part of that will go back into the youth and invest back into the youth. Andy, we can't thank you enough for being on with us today and sharing y'all's story, and also trusting in LiveAg to to help with a with an event like this. We we can't thank you enough for having the the faith in us to do that, Andy. And is there anything else you wanna kinda close with here?
Andy Holloway:Well, if people want to register for the beef conference, they can just Google Hemphill County Beef Cattle Conference. It'll take you to our website. You can get your tickets right there online. You know, if you wanna call me, you can. My cell phone number's (325) 668-0466.
Andy Holloway:And we'd like to have your consignments, but we'd like to have you come to the beef cattle conference. Ty, I had a friend up in Wyoming that used to tell me this little deal, they lived up there so far and hardly anybody had ever come to see them. He'd say, If you'll come to see us, we'll treat you so many different ways. You're bound to like one of them.
Ty deCordova:It's the famous words of Bert Richards. He used to tell me that all the time.
Andy Holloway:And and so that's how the beef conference is. There I guarantee you there's something there for everybody. So come come have fun and enjoy it and and be a part of the sale. Ty, I wanna leave you and Casey by just saying thank you for what y'all do for the beef cattle business, for all of agriculture. Casey, I do risk management work in my cattle business about every day, and thank you for for your expertise.
Andy Holloway:We couldn't be working for a better outfit than, than LiveAg. We're just thrilled to be partners with you guys.
Ty deCordova:Well, thank you, Andy. We appreciate it. Thank everybody out there in social media land and podcast land for joining us today and listening to three men ramble on here. So we can't thank you all enough. Don't forget to hit subscribe and like.
Ty deCordova:If you want to reach out to be a part of any of this, email katielive ag dot com or just get on our website and you can find one of us on there. As we always do, thank you all for joining us and God bless.
Andy Holloway:Thank you.