Preserving the Legacy, Building the Future with Tanner Evans

In this episode, we talk with Tanner Evans of Frontier Longhorns in Abilene, Texas, about the vision behind Frontier Cattle Company and the program he’s building. With a focus on preserving the legacy of the Texas Longhorn while building for the future, Tanner shares how Frontier is producing cattle known for standout color, strong structure, and impressive horn. Tune in as we discuss the importance of quality genetics, long-term breeding goals, and what continues to drive his passion for raising exceptional Longhorns.

Frontier Longhorns - https://www.frontierlonghorns.com/

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:00

Hi there, I'm Molly. And I'm Jamie. We're the owners of Hired Hand Software. And this is season six of our From the Pasture podcast. For more than 15 years, we've been helping breeders promote their pedigree livestock with our easy-to-use, animal management-driven website software. Each week, we bring you stories from the pasture, breeding philosophies, ranch traditions, cattle knowledge, and conversation with folks using Hired Hand to power their livestock marketing. So settle in for today's episode of From the Pasture with Hired Hand. Today's episode is a great one for anyone who's ever thought about what it really means to build a program with intention. We're joined by Tanner Evans of Frontier Longhorns out of Abilene, Texas, where his focus is simple but powerful: preserving the legacy of the Texas Longhorn while building something that stands the test of time. In today's conversation, we're going to talk about what it looks like to balance tradition with progress, how Tanner approaches breeding for color, structure, and horn, and what goes into creating a herd that's not just good today, but meaningful for the future. If you're new to Longhorns, thinking about starting your own herd, or just enjoy hearing about how different breeders approach their programs, you're going to get a lot out of this one. So let's get to it. Thanks for joining me today, Tanner.

SPEAKER_00 1:20

Absolutely. Excited to be on.

SPEAKER_02 1:23

Let's go ahead and just get right into it, kind of with the start of your program here, the foundation. Where did your interest in Longhorn start?

SPEAKER_00 1:32

Um, so our interest or my interest started early in the early 2000s, I believe. I was probably, I guess, 12-ish, somewhere around there, um, when my granddad um wanted some pasture ornaments. Um for we we had uh moved he'd moved out to, I guess they probably had 150 acres-ish, and just wanted a couple pasture ornaments. So he actually bought our very first two longhorns, um, a young steer and then a young heifer from uh Todd McKnight. When Todd uh lived in Abilene, he was he originally lived in Abilene before they moved up to Kansas. And so we bought our first two from them, um, and then kind of just you know snowballed from there. Um, had a friend that had a registered bull um so we could borrow him every year. Um, and kind of uh that's kind of where the basis started. Um, and then I think we had um we had several and then kind of got out of it, stepped away. Um and then recently in the past couple years, I was wanting to get back into some some sort of uh cattle operation, and we were deciding between kind of a commercial commercial cow, beef cattle operation, and we decided to dive back into Longhorns. That's the backstory. That's where we where where the interest originally started was from my granddad uh buying his first two.

SPEAKER_02 3:03

Do you feel like if you put that part of your family history aside, was there anything else specifically that kind of pulled you back into the breed?

SPEAKER_00 3:12

Um, I've always been uh fascinated with them. Um I'm uh I I like history, uh specifically um Texas history, and I'm sure we'll get into that later. That's kind of where Frontier came from. Texas and the West um history. Um and I I just think there's um nothing that symbolizes um Texas history in the West, perhaps better than the the iconic Longhorn. Um and so that's and they're it's a lot more fun than black cows in the pasture.

SPEAKER_02 3:45

What did those first few look like? If you can remember back, you know, when you were younger and your grandfather uh, you know, uh started with his herd, what did those first few animals look like compared to maybe kind of your foundation animals today?

SPEAKER_00 4:00

Um, so uh the first heifer that we had, we had her for she she lived and died on our on our place um and lived to be, I think, 20-ish years old, 21. Um looking back now, I don't I don't think we fully appreciated how good of a cow she was. Um, because we weren't really we weren't looking to build a program. We just had some longhorns. Um, you know, I horn horn has changed so much in such a short amount of time. Like I said, we bought her in the early 2000s, and I think I measured her after she had died, and she was just over 75 inches. So for a cow that was, you know, that was born in the early 2000s, um, you know, that was that was significant, significant horn growth um back then. Now looking back, it's not not so much, but I think um and and I mean, you know, one of the big things that we look at for foundation cows now is is production. Um she was a good mother. She had calves. I think she calved her last calf she had when she was like four, probably four years before she passed away. So she had calves until she was 17, 18 years old. Um, which, you know, is one of the the key things that we we look for now. Um and Todd Todd has a great program, and so anything that comes from him, you know, is going to be a solid cow. Um I think I think now um probably the genetics, her pedigree um wasn't, you know, as quote unquote well known, or she didn't have the the recognizable names in her pedigree um that we that we kind of look for now in in in foundation cows. But I mean from from a production standpoint and just a look, she was everything we could have asked for to kind of to kind of get us started. And now now we use that as kind of uh a looking back and comparing um even even today with the cows that we have now.

SPEAKER_02 6:09

We're gonna talk a lot more about your cows today and what you look for, but I want to touch on something you you mentioned briefly. Uh go ahead and tell me about where the name Frontier Longhorns or Frontier Ranch came from.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Uh so Frontier, it's I've just I love I love uh Texas and Western history. Um we're we actually live in Abilene, um, and there's a place in Abilene called Frontier, Texas. It's a really cool um museum. Uh if you ever were around Abilene, check it out. Um and it just it kind of embodies and signifies the the culture and the the history of the West and the westward expansion, um, which has kind of always been one of a uh a fascinating thing for me. Um and I actually, before we had Frontier Longhorns um or Frontier Cattle Company, we had I have a uh land improvement um business that's called uh frontier land improvement as well. And so it kind of we just wanted to stick stick with that, um, stick with something that you know that that means something to us, and it goes along with what we're trying to um do. Like you said, the preserving the legacy, building the future. Uh, we feel like we're really, really want to embody that preserving the legacy um uh portion. Um and I think I think there's no better way to do that than pay homage to kind of the the history of the Texas Longhorn as it was the cat, the cow or the cattle breed that kind of was at the forefront of the Western expansion.

SPEAKER_02 7:42

That's a great segue into some of my next questions. I'd like to dig in a little bit more with you uh to the preserving the legacy. You know, you mentioned that several times on your website, and and besides what you've already mentioned, is there anything else that that means to you that kind of runs through your program as a mission or a value?

SPEAKER_00 8:02

Yeah, and I I think um preserving the legacy, um I don't even know that it's it has to do with um the necessarily the breeding um characteristics that we're looking for to breed or we're looking to maintain um certain traits. I think um maybe more than anything, it's just preserving the legacy of the breed as a whole, um putting it back at the forefront of of conversations um in the cattle industry. I mean, I think I think there's so many um organizations that are doing a great job with that right now. Um like the the Fort Worth herd. Um I mean, Fort Worth has exploded in the last five, eight years with the amount of people that are in the stockyards and just and everybody goes to see the longhorns come down, come down Maine or Exchange Street, whatever it is. Um so I think that the preserving legacy is just building and building a base and and breeding an animal um that is the total package animal that you know that we're not that we're still pays homage to what what the Texas Longhorn looked like 60, 80 or 100 years ago.

SPEAKER_02 9:17

What do you feel like are some of the traits that maybe are moving moving the industry away from that?

SPEAKER_00 9:25

Probably horn horn growth, horn link, just tip to tip. Which is it's a you know, it's a double-edged sword. It's it's why it's why people have um Texas longhorns, is because it is really cool to look out in your pasture and see a bunch of 90-inch cows. Um that's just a cool thing. That's why that's why people love to breed. And I uh I think there's I I and I I really do think um from my short time back in it, um I think there was probably a period of time that we maybe strayed away from uh the things that that really really make a Texas Longhorn unique and and the things that make Texas Longhorns the breed that they are, and I think while we focused more on tip to tip, um I think we're coming back to that, honestly. Um I mean even you look at the um some of the longest cows in the breed right now, the longest tip-to-tip cows in the breed, they're full-package cows, they're all around great cows. Um, like I just saw at the legacy sale that Houdini's rosemary, there's not a hole in her. Like it, she's she's gonna challenge the longest-horned cow in the breed, and she's a she's a great-looking cow. So I don't I don't think necessarily to have those long tip-to-tip cows, you have to sacrifice other things. I think there was just maybe a period of time where there was there was some some breeders or some people that were sacrificing other things in order to just chase that tip to tip. I think we're at a place now where we've we have so many really, really good cows. Um, and like I said, I mean, she's gonna be she's probably gonna be the longest horned cow in the breed. And she's there's not a hole in her. She's solid from top to bottom. And I mean, production, uh, confirmation, she's just solid. And so I I don't I I don't I want to be careful with saying, you know, we're we're we're sacrificing the rest of the cow for for horn length because there are some phenomenal ones out there.

SPEAKER_02 11:35

Do you feel like there are other ways where maybe you can talk more about like the how-to but balancing tradition with the modern breeding goals?

SPEAKER_00 11:45

Yeah, I think um just um doing your research, uh, really, really doing research and thoughtfully pairing um these animals. Um and and there's so many uh we're just and we can talk on this later too. We're just kind of starting, I'm getting into the IVF. Um, we've done some AI, just kind of getting into the IVF world, and there's so many really, really good bulls out there, um, that you your you know your options are nearly endless with what what and it can it can be overwhelming, but just doing your research to if you have a cow that has say if you have a cow that has that's a little bit smaller framed, um just being mindful of pairing her with some of the bulls that that fix that. Because there are some there are some great bulls in the breed, and we have, I mean, one of our younger herd sires um is uh a new bull, he's a younger bull called Mr. Handsome. Uh what we probably will not pair him with with cows that are of that smaller structure because he is a great, he's a great bull, great young bull, but he fits more into that athletic bull category, you know what I mean? Uh he's never gonna be 2100 pounds, just not how he's built. Um I don't think he's a I don't think that's a knock on him. I just think he's a different type. Um but just being mindful of that, you know, and and and kind of watching watching pairings and just being um being more mindful of pairings rather than well this is this is the bull we have access to, so this is this is what we're gonna pair him with. Um and and I think that that kind of mindset can just set set you back a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 13:42

What other sorts of uh traits, pedigrees, um, characteristics are you breeding towards right now with your program?

SPEAKER_00 13:52

Um so we've uh we just we just um added two new cows um at the legacy sale um that we're really, really excited about. Um I would say we're looking for if I had to if I had to place traits in a one, two, three order of importance to me, it would be um probably just uh the you know structure, uh body structure. Um and then we love breeding for color. Um I've kind of gotten really fascinated with and with um all the neo gen, being able to send in DNA samples and just kind of really dive into that. Um and I there's actually an uh article I can't you would probably know. I I the name of the website just left me. Um he has a uh a color genetics article, it's like six pages. Um, and I just dove into that double helix ranch, that's the name, sorry. Um just read through all that and just I really kind of got um interested in in that and looking at the different genetic makeups as far as coat color and and that calculating that bounce on the coat color, and um that's really fascinated me. And then I mean horn growth. I'm not gonna not like I said, I I it's I think it's it's important to everybody. Um, but we just put it, I would, I would put it in the category of third most importance to us. We're looking for structure, color, and then and then horn growth. It's kind of what what we're after.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

Well, you touched on something that maybe isn't familiar to all of our listeners. You mentioned neo gen neogen and sending in DNA samples. Um kind of give me the broad overview of what that means, how that works, um, maybe uh ways that folks can educate themselves about that if they if this is new to them.

SPEAKER_00 15:48

Yeah, if it's new to you, it was new to me a short time ago, and it seems overwhelming. Um, I actually just got into it after um talking with Marshall Merritt. He gave me a sheet of all of his cows um at North Sridge Ranch, and uh I was just fascinated with, I was like, this is incredible information. Where where do you get this? And he gave me the number of a girl at Neo Gen, and I started talking with her. It's it's a they make the process very easy. It's a it's like a little ear tag type tool that you get on Valley Vet. They barcode everything, they send it to you. You just take a quick sample and send it in, and um and they send you these reports back. Um and not and coat color is just one of the many reports that you get. I mean, it it can be it can be overwhelming just looking at it going through some of the reports because it is a it's a lot of information, but I think it's a lot of great information to to have about to and to know about your herd in general. Um and you know, for what we do, it's it's very, very cheap in the grand in the grand scheme of things to know these these are the these are the dominant traits I have in each one of these cows. Um and then every bull, every bull now has has these DNA markers on file. Um and so you can find it on every bull. So it's just it's a very, very helpful tool. Um and Neogen will help you, if you don't understand the reports, reading them, they will help you read through them. She'll send you an email that makes it it makes it very they make it very, very simple um for even someone that's that's new and it's it seems overwhelming to do it, but it's really not. It's um and I would recommend it to I would recommend it to anybody. I think it's I think it's a very, very helpful tool, and it's something that's really, really it's just good to know about your cattle. It'll it'll give you a lot of insight into things that you didn't even know.

SPEAKER_03 17:46

So has that um already impacted the way that you approach some of your breeding strategy decisions?

SPEAKER_00 17:53

Absolutely, yes. Um, you know, I mean you look at those pairings, um, and it's I mean, it's a it's a chart that's it's science, it's simple to read. Um everybody's everybody's read them kind of at one point or in their life or another, but it's it's it makes it breaks it down and makes it really easy, you know, and and it makes it a little bit more of a obviously there's it's never a it's never a hundred percent certain with any pairing. Um but it may it just makes it nice to nice to know. You know, I mean we always heard, oh, if you have a white cow, put a white cow and a red bull mix color. It's like, well, yes, usually, but when you see this, you it it gives you, I mean, exact percentages, and it it's it really has changed. Um I don't know that it's I don't know that yet it's like made us stop a pairing that we thought we were going to do or or or do a different pairing that we maybe weren't going to do, but I I know in the near future it will. Um it will it'll play some key factors in in um in pairing decisions that we make.

SPEAKER_02 19:02

Speaking of pairings, can you share with me maybe your top two or three that you're most excited about?

SPEAKER_00 19:10

That we have coming up, so um probably the cows or one of the cows we just bought um at Legacy is uh it's Burdock's lioness, um, out of that lioness line. Um, and she comes bred to um a young young bull that I think is gonna be great, HL Discovery. Um I I'm really excited about that pairing. Um that's one of our one of our more excited um pairings that we have, and there those calves are due any day. Um we have another one, um a Django, um, and then we have one out of uh Rural Safari Sun. That's um she heaps one of the other the second cow we bought at the legacy sale, um DCT Gracie, um, was bred to uh rural safari sun. So I'm excited about that one. Um probably the one I'm most excited about is an uh embryo that we got from Austin Roar. Um it's out of Heads Up and Leading Lady. I love that leading lady cow. I think she's phenomenal. Um I'm really, really excited about about that one. That would probably be number one on my on my list if I had to if I had to choose. And I'm also I mean, I always get excited, I get excited about all the all the young or young calves that we're gonna have. Um this will this will be our first group of calves out of this new bull that we have um as far as from a a natural breeding standpoint. I'm excited to see that first calf crop from him.

SPEAKER_03 20:50

Where do you want your herd to be in five to ten years?

SPEAKER_00 20:56

I just want to be breeding animals consistently that we're proud of, that we're proud to take to um these futurities. That that's a new world for me. Um and so breeding animals that we're proud to take to those, and then and breeding animals that we're proud to um present in these in these elite sales, um, whether it be the treasure sale or the Gwen Denning sale or the legacy sale, or I'm I know I'm leaving some out, but there's so many really, really good sales out there now. And so just breeding animals that we're we're proud of, um to take their because that's why we're really doing it, um, is just to kind of create something that that we're that we're proud of. Um and and that's whether that be having a bunch of hundred inch cows or having just a bunch of really, really well put together, well producing cows that are consistently outproducing themselves, that's that's where we want to be.

SPEAKER_02 22:29

dig in a little bit deeper to both the female side of your program as well as the bull side um but let's talk kind of general overview before we do that uh so when you're making your breeding decisions um I know you've ranked a few other things we've talked about here so I'll ask you to rank maybe in order uh what matters the most first is it color structure horn growth uh you know give me your your three things that you matter um structure for sure is number one um and then I would say color and then horn growth if I had to go one two three be structure color horn growth um is how I would how I would rank it um just on the spot those are my one two three what do you feel like is harder to fix genetically than most people think um probably something not in those three disposition I would say um I think a a lot of and and it's something that you know that we we take seriously um I don't like I don't I have young kids that love love all of our cows and and um our bull right now Mr.

SPEAKER_00 23:45

Handsome he's about as gent he's puppy dog gentle my three year old girl can just walk up and just scratch him on the head and we take we take that we take that seriously and I think it's harder to I think that's something that's harder to harder to fix genetically than some people think. Just a puppy dog gentle bull with if the mom if the mother's crazy it just doesn't work. It doesn't matter how gentle the bull is uh you know those wild cows raise raise wild calves um and so and I think that's harder I don't know that that's something that's harder that or that is easily bred out of of a line. I think that that's something that we haven't had to make any like tough culling decisions based on that but that's something that definitely will play a huge factor in you know those borderline those borderline coal keep uh heifers is is disposition. We just don't have time I don't I don't want to mess with crazy cows in in your herd what separates a good animal from one you would continue to build your herd around um mothering ability um I we put a strong emphasis on that um I think that's one of the I think that's one of the best the highlights of the breed of the Longhorn breed is mothering ability their their calving ease their calving independence um their protectiveness um I think that's those are some of the highlights of the Longhorn breed um and so we put a very strong emphasis on that you know we can have a great really colorful great looking cow with lots of twists I mean in fact we we have one right now um she's she's a beautiful black and white cow um and she's not a she's not a bad mother she just doesn't have that mothering instinct um and or there is that I don't I don't know I don't know if I'm putting that well but she's not like I said she's not a bad mother but that it she's a good cow but if she was if she had that really strong mothering instinct that calving ease that that really that protectiveness um that really really high milk production then she would be a great cow that's the only thing that she's really she's beautiful black and white cow lots of twist um but she just kind of lacks there so that I would think that separates her from being a good and a great cow in our herd well let's keep talking about the maternal side uh since you brought up that trait uh what makes a cow foundational in your program um I think all those things that I just listed that kind of makes them great um and then plus I think now there's getting to be so many good cow lines in the breed um they gotta go back and and have one of those really really good cow lines in them um and and we have some of those we have a couple um but I think I think those having all of those traits um that we talked about plus having that that really good cow line in their pedigree um I think one of the best ones right now that we that we're looking to add a little bit is that that 3S that Danica line I think she's a from a a production standpoint you know she just consistently produces amazing cow after amazing cow and bull bulls too but yeah I would think that having all of those traits plus having having the elite pedigree to go to go along with it would kind of brings us to a foundational cow.

SPEAKER_02 27:38

Who are some of your other favorite maternal lines uh or females maybe uh dead or alive and tell me why they're your favorite and if you have plans to have them impact your herd or you just just are a fan yeah so um that 3S Danica line like I just said uh they really showcased her well at the legacy sale I thought that was great um we saw one of her daughters there that was actually the mother to the spotlight bull yeah Marlborough Marlborough man um which he's I thought he was great too he looked really good there um so that line and we we kind of made some plans there to try to use him to bring some of that those genetics in um the roses line the rose line I love that um there was a cow there at that sale at the legacy sale that roses jack that was had that roses line um like her um jam and Jenny um love what she's what she's doing um I think I think the there's so many good cows in the breed the good cow lines are the ones that are that have proven that they're going to produce and I think the I mean that Danica's doing is doing that.

SPEAKER_00 29:00

I mean you look at she's there's just hundred inch cows I think several of them in her line plus this Marlboro man bull is great um and they're also having they're already having great I just saw some of the some of his heifers I think that were they looked really really good um and there was one in the there was one in the treasure sale that I thought was was great. This might be a little bit of a redundant question if if you if your answer matches the folks who bred those cows but who are some breeders who feel like you do who who are some breeders who you feel like do a great job with maternal lines and who you love to talk cattle with all afternoon Yeah I mean I think the the people who have who have bred the the the 3S data I'll tell you one that I really like too that um is uh Dylan over at Lonesome Pines. Um they have I think they have a bunch of really really great cows um there and there was one that keep going back to the legacy sale it's the most recent sale we just went to but they they they had uh a cut and dry daughter called cut and high there that had a really good uh maternal line um Dylan they do a good job um over there um there's so like I said there's so many good ones right now um the Floyd's he's out by Robert Floyd he's out by us kind of Albany area he's got some great cow lines um in their herd um yeah I think those would be a couple of them but yeah those just those that like I said I think my favor if I had to go back to my favorite one right now it'd probably be the Danico one as far as just a cow family right now. That changes what do you look for in a heifer to decide if you're going to keep her or call her or sell her um right so right now uh we probably keep heifers longer right now than we will say in the next three years. Um I I'm just said that we have some good ones that I just I want to give them a chance you know what I mean um and I have one right now um that's a uh drag iron granddaughter chard iron um and just love her love her bottom side of her pedigree too um her horn direction is probably something that I would possibly call on um just goes a little far forward but what you it's so tough because she has she has the structure she has the the color um it's just that that horn direction is kind of kind of funny and she has a great disposition and so that's something that I I wouldn't call one because you know I want to see I want to see I think she's great and I I want to her pedigree's great and color's great structure's great I want to see what she can do if we put her with a a a really flat lateral bull or a bull that's known for like a drop box or a bull like that that's known for flattening those out um I think she could still produce really really great great cows for us and so that's something we wouldn't call on um versus you know one that has maybe a flatter horn set but just structurally isn't quite there. I think that's probably um that's probably the structure is probably the biggest thing that that we would that we call on. And I you know it's funny I was just looking at the I I don't even call necessarily on color as much um watching that uh treasure sale there was a um a Mr Big Stuff daughter that sold for like 75 grand I think um and uh at it's Kurt uh 20 or 20 um and he has two other cows or two other heifers that are full sisters to her that are both solid red um and and so I I I feel like I'm like that's there's just such there's such good genetic lines there that I think it's kind of silly to just to cull on that that solid color. I think the biggest thing is just structure because that's something that you know they're going to pass down is the structure. You don't know you don't necessarily know they're going to pass down the solid red color. Um and so that that would be the biggest thing that I would I think we call on is is definitely structure.

SPEAKER_02 34:36

Let's keep talking about structure but let's switch gears and talk about bulls.

SPEAKER_00 34:40

So structurally what are you looking for in a bull that you're gonna use in your program I'll I'll give you the what we just bought um because that's I feel like that's a for for kind of our what I call our main herd there that's at the house and then um he's he's he's young so he's got a lot of growing to do he has the horn he has the the he's really really flat he has the temperament um structurally he's not he's an athletic bull um which the cows that we have him on are big bodied big deep bodied cows so we don't have to worry about that um I I think he probably resembles the Texas long the old style what I would the old style Texas longhorn bull um structurally he's like I said he's more athletic he's a little more trimmed up very very toned muscle muscle wise and and I think I think he's gonna be great. I really do he he's out of uh hired hand and I love that bull um I think he's doing some great he's he's got some great ones um and so genetically I think and and pedigree wise I think he's great um and uh yeah structurally some people might look at him and say oh he's not you know he's not not big enough and then other people I think it it's just a preference and and right now my preference I lean more towards a bull that we're gonna have on on our property um consistently year after year breeding with our our cows I think he fits the bill perfect uh from an from that athletic type standpoint that we're looking looking to uh to create because like I said I don't we with the cows that we have we don't need a 2100 pound bull we don't need a giant to to still to still have very structurally sound heifers um that we don't we don't necessarily need that so he fits he fits exactly what we're doing and what's his name in case folks want to look him up on your website his name is Mr Handsome N R R Mr Handsome um he's on there he's uh I just just measured him the other day he was at 60 66 and a half in terms two in April I believe April something so um we're we're really excited about him and we bought him we actually bought him on um in the December December January hired hand sale um from Marshall so got him in the hired hand sale he's out of hired hand he's out of there you go theme here exactly yeah great great name that's what we bought that's what we've been buying well tell me I know we've talked a lot through the podcast we've kind of skipped around but I feel like you've touched on a lot of what's important for you with bulls and herd sires. Why don't you tell me a little bit more about some of your all-time favorite bulls dead or alive and when why they're your favorite and if they're impacting your herd at all today yeah um drag iron is I I think and yes he does he's our herd probably has more of a drag iron influence than any other bull um we have uh th four drag iron uh granddaughters um and then um looking to add a drag iron daughter um that I'm kind of in the works right now um and so I think he he has probably impacted our herd um single-handedly more than any bull um just from a from our most of our cows go back to him um I think he he just he produced such a strong cow he's not necessarily known for you know producing a lot of high powered bulls um but I I I and I say that I think that's why um you know I think that's why Buck Wynn um that bull that the Glennings have right now I think that's why he's exploded and and he's a one that bull is he's phenomenal there's he's great um but I think part of the the allure behind him is because there's not that many drag iron sons that are just great and he is he's phenomenal. And so but I think drag iron produces his his cow lines are just so great um and and he can you know he he fixed a lot of issues that that people had with cows. And so that that's one of my favorite um I love that Buck Wynn um from a new like from he's not he's not that young anymore but um from a cow or from a bull that's that's kind of I guess less legendary and more like right now um I think he's he's great. Some of the other ones see I love like I said I love Dropbox um for kind of flattening out um we're using him um on one of the cows we bought at uh at the uh legacy sale is she's got a ton of total horn as a as a really young cow um and it just is a little upright and I'm really excited about um getting to pair her with I think we're going I think I'm going to I don't I don't know I haven't done it yet but I think I'm really really wanting to pair her with Dropbox um because he can just flat flatten that horn out a little bit and if she can just pass some of that total horn on. And I love him obviously the tough checks um I think there's so many tough checks daughters and tough checks sons out there you know that it's it can be kind of tricky um but I mean he he is that's why he was there's so many out there because he is what he is um he was phenomenal. Yeah I would say those drag iron for sure influences it the most um and I think one of my favorite bulls right now is Buckwyn. We've talked a lot about animals that you've purchased as a way to kind of grow and you know supplement your herd what advice would you give to maybe breeders who are just getting started and you know looking to purchase whether it be through consignment sales, private treaty online uh talk me through what your best advice and and best examples would be um best advice would be before you buy talk to as many people and as many breeders as you can um I think that's I I tried to do that um and looking back I would have even done it more if if knowing that I and I'm happy we're happy I'm happy with everything how we started our program but yeah I would say just get out and go to a sale um they can be intimidating if you've never been and you don't really know anyone it can kind of it kind of gets crazy and can be intimidating but um everybody that I've met in this breed is so so friendly and eager to help um just everyone has their phone number on their on their website don't hesitate to call um we all are kind of obsessed with it and love talking about them um so don't hesitate to call and just ask ask questions and and reach out to people and um I would strongly recommend attending a sale before you go try to buy an animal at a sale just go and watch um and kind of kind of see what see what's going on.

SPEAKER_02 43:04

Yeah that would be my my biggest advice would just be to talk to as many people um and as many breeders as you can because everyone everyone's eager to help do you feel like it is better to start small and build or invest big up front what would your advice be there for me um I don't want to say I'm I'm a young person in the breed and I don't I don't want to make I don't I'm not saying I'm not it's not a knock on anything.

SPEAKER_00 43:40

I'm 36 and so I felt like I you know we have we have a little more time to invest small and build a build a foundation um but it takes time to do that. And if you if if you're wanting if you're wanting something quick then you obviously you have to have to kind of spend that but I also just wasn't going to spend the kind of money that you know it takes to build a program where I want to I want to be in five years. I wasn't going to spend the money right now to to have that now. And so I think you can you can do it both ways if you have the time um and and and the patience to just to build over time. I I like how how we're doing it. We bought you know we bought eight eight or ten um right up front and then now I kind of have a plan in my mind of what I want to add. I'm gonna we're still gonna buy we're not gonna we're still gonna buy animals every year at the sale but I kind of have a plan in my head of what I want to add you know year after year um to help accelerate that each year. Yeah so I think I don't think there's a wrong way to do it. If you have if you have the means and and you know you're all in then buy all I mean dive headfirst in and you you can't you can't go wrong with buying buying really great cows.

SPEAKER_02 45:35

So if someone buys from Frontier Longhorns what are they investing in um I think um I think they're investing in it in a a

SPEAKER_00 45:47

Reader that's going to that's committed to being around um for a long time to come, um, that's committed to to producing solid animals uh year after year, um and and someone that's not I I don't we're not chasing we're not chasing fads or we we just we kind of have our I have our long-term plan and while I'm sure I'll while veer from that here and there, I've I've for the most part I kind of want to I want to stick to our five ten year plan. Um and so I think I think that's that's one of the most important things is just knowing that it's you're you're you're buying from someone that's going to be that's committed to being around for a while. Um and I I I want that to be the most the most important thing and hopefully you're buying from someone that um you're happy to come back to uh multiple times. Because I know that the the you know the people that um we've bought animals from um I know we'll be back um just because I I I like their program and if you like someone's program and what they're producing, odds are two, three years down the road you're gonna like you're gonna still like their program. Um and so I hope I I hope I want to be that that for the people that buy from us.

SPEAKER_02 47:15

How do you approach selling your cattle? Um talk me through like relationship building, marketing, that type of stuff.

SPEAKER_00 47:22

Um, you know, I I talked about kind of the futurity world as a new world to us, um, and just getting out there and meeting people um and and marketing. Um social media is such a huge thing now. I'm probably not the best at it. My wife's pretty good at it. She does all the cool videos and all that stuff for us. Um I'm not the I'm not the best on social media, but I I'm constantly scrolling Facebook, um, different things like that. I think the one thing that our breed our industry does really well is we sell we sell to each other very well. I think one of the areas we're lacking in is selling to the what I would call kind of a lifestyle buyer, the the the guy with 10, 12 acres that wants a a steer and a cow or or wants a couple young heifers just to to have as as pasture pets. Um and so I think I'm trying to trying to be creative on ways for us to to kind of market market in that area as well. I haven't when I figure that out, I'll I'll get back with you. I'm still working on on how to figure that out, but we're doing some cool things on social media, Facebook, Google, all that good stuff, but that's that's one of the areas we're trying to get better at.

SPEAKER_02 48:45

I feel like that could be a whole episode in itself, probably.

SPEAKER_00 48:49

Absolutely.

SPEAKER_01 48:50

Yep, definitely.

SPEAKER_02 48:53

How has having an online presence helped your program?

SPEAKER_00 48:57

Um, I mean, I I I love it. It's I think um, you know, what Higher Tane does in in in making um building a professional looking website um is is great. Um it helps. I'll tell you one of the funny uh one of the things that I use it the most for is you know whether we're we're measuring or out looking at at our at our cows, thinking about pairings and everything. I constantly have my phone looking at just you know looking at other clicking on other animals, taking me to taking me to their page, taking me to their their pedigree, their health history, their their progeny. It's just it's so nice having it at the click of your of your phone out in the pasture. Um I think that's but that's one of the one of the things that I love about it most. Um from a from a marketing or animal standpoint, um I think it's it's nice to have it, you know, all on there and um and being able to link to Facebook and various things like that. And I I just think it's it's what y'all have done is making making ranches have a professional looking website fairly easy. Um now getting people to update that website is a whole nother story. Um and make it making sure that you're we try I try to. Um I'm probably I fall off on it some too, but um yeah, I think that those are the things that that we love about it the most. I think it's a an incredible tool, handy tool to have on your phone to be able to just click through all these pedigrees and see all of these different animals at the click of your thumb is very handy.

SPEAKER_02 50:55

What do you think buyers today expect for information and data when it comes to making purchases?

SPEAKER_00 51:02

Um, I think one of the and and we've I've just started, I I have all this in a separate spreadsheet that I've just started kind of transferring over to our hired hands hand site. Um I think all the health, all your health stuff up there on your animals, um, on your hired hand site, I think making that readily available to to people that click on your site um gives people a sense of comfort in in knowing, you know, that we are um we are vaccinating regularly. We're deworming, we're taking care of, we're we're doing all of these things on a regular basis. And like I said, I our ours is not even fully updated to where I want it, um, but that's one of the things I'm working on right now on our side on getting that stuff updated. Because I think that is a really and it's and it's also nice um to just have to enter it in one spot. We can enter it in the back end of hired hand, and I don't have to enter it in a spreadsheet and then move it over. I can just enter it all right there and and it and then just make it public, and then I can also see it on the back end too. Um and so I think I think that from a from a buyer's standpoint, I know from for me, I think that adds um, I don't know if it's a layer of legitimacy or transparency or what it is, but I I I think that's really important.

SPEAKER_02 52:27

And a fun fact that not a lot of folks know if they're not updating their site frequently, is you can also do that in bulk. So you can select all you all of your animals you dewormed with one click and apply that to them, and then you're not having to go into every animal. So we're trying to save you time.

SPEAKER_00 52:42

Yes, hey, and it's it's saving time. I I just I mean I've decided, you know, I'm not I'm not gonna use our our spreadsheet. There's just no reason to when I can just up do it all in there and it's all it's all readily available for me anytime I need it, whether it be because even if it's on my spreadsheet, then if I'm out out in the pasture or whatever, it's not it's not on my phone at that point. And if I just do it in there, it's on my phone, it's a it's everywhere I go. So I think that's I've just kind of decided to fully transfer over to that and just enter it in one place.

SPEAKER_03 53:20

What are you most excited for for the future of the industry and the breed?

SPEAKER_00 53:28

I think just um you know, the where where it's going, I think, is a is a good place right now. Um as far as you know, I think most all breeders are on the same page as far as wanting to, you know, breed for for total total animal package. Um and I think it's you can even see it kind of in um you can kind of see it in some of the early trends of the first futurities and the first sale. Um animals um that have really good structure and come in very well conditioned are selling much, much better than even animals that probably have more horn that come in with subpar um condition. Um and I think I think that's a good thing. I don't think that I think that's a very good thing. Um and and kind of and even in the futurity, futurity world, um, I think that can almost be exaggerated a little bit. You can get some over rewarding for over condition, but I think it's starting to be there's starting to be a happy medium there. Um and so I'm excited I'm excited for for I think all all breeders are in a general consensus that we need to be breeding for a total package animal rather than a chasing tip to tip. Um and I think that puts us in a really good good spot. Um and I think like I said, with what the herd's doing, I think like that was the at the Eddie Wood sale this year, I thought it was I thought that was great. Um, just the showcase of the you know the Fort Worth herd. And I think that's a people are starting it, people it's becoming a more widespread um known known breed again. And I think um I'm I'm really excited for that and to be a part of that.

SPEAKER_02 55:23

What haven't I asked you about that you want to cover and have our listeners know uh while I have you on the interview here today?

SPEAKER_00 55:30

Oh, what haven't you asked? Man, we've we've covered um we've covered most everything. Um we've got some exciting new um things coming up from an online presence that I kind of talked to you a little bit about uh with a website called the Longhorn Exchange.com. Um that would be the only thing. Uh it's kind of a marketplace, centralized marketplace uh for kind of what I was talking about for that lifestyle breeder, um, or focus more on that lifestyle breeder. Um, but other than that, um I think I think that was about that was about it.

SPEAKER_02 56:07

Awesome. In addition to that, go ahead and tell um everyone where they can find your frontier website and your socials if they want to learn more about that.

SPEAKER_00 56:15

Yeah, you can find us on uh Frontier Frontier Longhorns on uh Instagram, Facebook, um, and then frontierlonghorns.com um or frontiercattlecompany.com, either one takes you to um takes you to our page.

SPEAKER_02 56:32

Well, thank you so much, Tanner, for joining me today on From the Pasture. Uh, if our listeners want to explore more programs like Tanner, study pedigrees, or see how breeders are presenting their cattle online, head over to higherhandsoftware.com to learn more about our websites and our customers, and be sure to check out both the Tanner sites too.