If there was ever a time to get out of your box and try something new, this might be the best time to do it. Well, welcome back to That Ranching podcast. Today, we're have the privilege of being in Red Lodge, Montana joined by Terrill Ostrom. Terrill, go ahead and introduce yourself to the, listeners. Hi. Terrill Ostrom with, Lazy TM Livestock. We're a cow calf stocker operation here in the, Red Lodge, Roscoe, Fishtail, Montana area. In the last three years, I've become a dealer for Rio. We appreciate you being part of the family. The discussion today relative to the turbo boost calf starter program is to hear from Terrill a little bit in terms of the work you do as a broker and if we can just go up thirty thousand feet to understand the industry and the needs of this industry from where you sit and from how you see it. It all kind of goes hand in hand. Not only do we run the cow calf and stocker operation, but I also have a a brokerage business. That business runs under the auspice of Crossroads Cattle Company. Right. And Crossroads is the company that I clear through. It's owned by two gentlemen based out of Austin, Texas, Les Callahan and Jenning Steen. And they're very very gracious and very professional in that brokerage company. They're kind of our back office support. So we're able to trade cattle, through the barns, through videos, and more importantly, rancher to rancher direct in the country. The the firm itself, probably handles upwards of two hundred and forty thousand cattle a year. And what sort of area do they cover? You know, that's that's why I like working with Crossroads is because we don't we don't we're not set with any geographic locations. We basically buy cattle from California to Georgia, a few into Florida. So that'd give you an idea. Washington State and then send cattle up into Minnesota and that part of the country. So no geographic boundaries. Yeah, that's great. As the listeners would realize, where Rio has been operating for twenty five years is in the cow calf space. We're known for the tub that pays for itself and feed and forage savings, hay and forage savings alone. And coming out into this country, I see grass. Obviously, there's a lot of drought affecting Wyoming, Montana. I was in Kansas yesterday. So that's the cow calf side of it. What we're launching in September is the Turbo Boost program, which is a calf starter program just for the first sixty days. And so we can get into that in a bit here and go over some data we have. But, Terrell, talk to me a little bit about, what are the needs or what are the risks or what are the headaches and frustrations of dealing with these calves, whether they're unweaned or weaned and and shipping and commingling and sale barns. Obviously, you're doing stuff that takes a shortcut around that and makes it easier for folks, but walk us through how people are feeling and what the headaches and frustrations and, you know, in that space. Through the brokerage, we see cattle coming from all different kinds of backgrounds and we see anything from a put together sale barn type animal to a a really country fresh calf with two rounds of modified live around it branding, which is traditional, and then another round two to three weeks prior to weaning. So we see cattle at all different, spectrums and and all different, levels of, stress put put on those calves. One of the goals of everybody that touches one of those ball and calves is is least stress getting them started and getting them hydrated and getting them coming to the bunk. And so I think anything that we can do to supplement that and enhance that experience, anything that we can do to make that transition easier, less stressful, think would be a benefit. Right. And so if we have less stress, what is the product of that? What's the end game for reducing that stress in that whole transition? The the end game is to eliminate the number of treats that you have and and definitely then, you know, we know that we're not gonna be a hundred percent. There's gonna be that percentage of cattle that that you're gonna have to treat. But, if we can lower that number of treats and if we can and and once again, and if we if we have that immune system fine tuned prior to creating the stress on that animal Yeah. Then I think that we'll much better chance of success. And we still might have that percentage that we have to doctor, but we might eliminate those retreats. And I think that we'll have a better chance of whatever we choose as our method of treatment, we'll have a better chance of that working. Exactly. Well, I think we've got two things going on here. If we take the turbo boost program for starting calves and just put it to one side, what Terrell has alluded to is really building the foundation and that's what we do, that's what we eat, sleep and breathe is on the cow herds, you know, the cow is the factory and she needs to be have good mineral status and you have that fetal programming and it starts, you know, in in the cow. Now we fast forward and say, well, if a calf has been on Riomax, its mom's been on Riomax, we still have a stress event at weaning whether we like it or not. But it's less of a stress situation than, say, for example, a calf that was mineral compromised, didn't have good levels of mineral and and had a compromised immune system. That's kind of where where we are in the cow calf space. But stepping into these the starting program with the turbo boost program, we're looking at, you know, thousands of calves from all over the country that may or may not have had a sound foundation, if you like, to start with. And then the question is, how do we navigate that journey and that stress? Because a stress event will ultimately lead to a disease break or challenged immune system. So let's just talk about, let's say for example calves that are not have not been on the Riomax program. Maybe they've been shipped, maybe they've been commingled at a sale barn, they've had a compromised immune system and they hit that feed yard or that stocker operation, you know, they're coming off the back of that big stress event. How does that look now? We've seen all different scenarios given that situation. I think that anything we can do ahead of time like you alluded to but if we get into that situation where nothing's been done ahead of time, then I think anything that we can do to keep that gut healthy is really a big consideration. With the advent of the turbo boost paste and then having the turbo boost in the tub. Right. So for that constant exposure again to maintain that gut health, I think that that's the key. Well, as Terrell says, gut health is huge. The gut is the number one immune organ. You know, if you had a dead calf and you post it, you don't find, oh, here's the immune system. It looks like it was weak or compromised. The immune system is throughout the body, but the gut is the number one component of that immune system. So just to bounce back to the turbo boost program, what it is is on arrival, those calves get a dose of the turbo boost paste. That is like an on ramp to an interstate. Get them up to speed, very powerful dose, and get it get those levels up. Then they're exposed to the turbo boost tub for sixty days. What that does is it's like getting them up to speed on that on ramp but then hitting the cruise control and setting the trajectory of that calf's life in the feed yard in that first sixty days. And you talked about gut health, it's a lot more than that. Sure, it's gut health, it's stimulating the appetite, feeding the good bugs in the rumen, but then tying up and flushing out the bad guys, helping against the scours, helping against the disease causing organisms. But then really the genius of it is fueling the immune system and triggering an immune response. And that's where we see these all natural ingredients that we're using that science helps to reduce the dependence on antibiotics. I have a dream and people say, Maybe that's all it'll ever be. My dream is to reduce the dependence on antibiotics that there is in the feedlot industry, and many people laugh at that. Well, already in the trials we've done summer of twenty twenty six, we're seeing that happening. I didn't say eliminate, but reduce. And so the things we're measuring is number of treats, number of retreats, death loss, and of course weight gain in that sixty day starter period. I can share some data that we've got from early trials. We've been doing it in Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle where obviously there's a lot of cattle being fed, and then East Texas. So Oklahoma, where we did a turbo boost pen versus control, five point two percent treat rate on turbo boost versus fifteen point two on control. And a two point two pound daily gain versus a one point eight eight on the control, so a point three two pound difference there. Texas Panhandle, seven percent treats versus fourteen, and retreats point nine five percent versus four, and then zero death loss versus five percent. So these are this is directionally what we're seeing. Early data, I get it, but directionally, it's it's what we expected. When we formulated the turbo boost program, I sat down with smart minds in the industry, PhD nutritionists. I said to them, I want new sheriff in town, both barrels blazing, everything you know how to fight off disease challenges naturally without relying on antibiotics. And half of them laughed at me. The quest goes on to figure out you can fight diseases off by having a strong immune system, one, but by having an immune response mechanism, two. And so in East Texas, the trial there, treatment's down thirty percent, retreat's down thirty percent, and weight gain at two point one pounds on the turbo boost program versus one point six in the control. So there we have a half a pound daily gain. And so it's not all about daily gain, but ultimately, that's what you get paid for in the feed yard. And, I'll loop in doctor Ryan Rathman from Texas Tech where he talks about energy redirection. If you have a really sound, strong immune system, Terrill, less of the energy in that diet will go towards fueling that immune system and more will go to weight gain. I mean, it makes sense. So his thing is, you know, health equals weight gain. And so that's the way we're approaching it. You know, you've been on the road a lot longer than me and I respect your seniority in this space. From what I've said and from some early data, how is that gonna be received by these folks that are starting calves? I'm not the data nerd that you are and I say nerd in He's calling me a nerd. Yeah. Say that in a very respectful way. But but I do know twenty some years ago, I looked at some data on first treat versus second treat and at first treat and I I wouldn't want anybody to quote me, but I I know the the statistics are staggering. First treat on an animal for respiratory, specifically respiratory, which that's ninety five percent of the problems that you have Yes, sir. From the stress. At first treat, that animal has a twenty percent chance of being select of of downgrading from their genetic potential of a prime or choice carcass to a select animal. If you go one step further and you retreat that same animal, he has a higher than eighty percent chance of going from a prime or choice animal down to a select or a no roll type animal. So that in itself, just the meat quality aspect of eliminating those treats and the economic effect of that is just huge. Do you couple that then with today's animal and you take the average five weight calf that's worth somewhere around five dollars a pound and you're and and if you're restricting his gain in that starting phase, that first forty five to sixty days by by any percentage monetarily, that stacks up really, really fast. So anything that you can do to attain the the goals that you just just stated in in your very limited trials because I know they're limited. They're you're just starting. Right. And so anything that we can do to to to get the number of first treats and and those retreats down, think, not only from a carcass quality standpoint, but also from a getting them cattle to the bunk and getting them up and rolling and not taking away from the genetic potential of those animals to gain and convert. It's a no brainer. You've referred to genetic potential a few times and you know, the industry as an industry, we're very forward thinking, progressive looking at genetics. But along the way, there's all these roadblocks, hurdles you might say, that prevent a calf from reaching its true genetic potential. That's kind of sad but it's real. And so when you speak about those ones getting kicked out into select, the whole meat the beef industry is incentivized and graded on marbling. Am I correct? That's the definition of select choice prime. Yeah. That's how we measure success in beef production Right. Is, you know, not only monetarily, that's ultimately, what we're trying to to attain. So anything that we can do to let them maximize their genetic potential just just adds value to your operation. Absolutely. So to just dovetail off of that, what Texas Tech said was that when they did these meat quality studies, feedlot animal that had been subject to sickness and had immune challenges versus a healthy calf that had a really healthy immune system, same diet, same genetics, that had much better marbling in the one with the healthy immune system. Now that's a no brainer, might say. But I would say, guys, it's it's the same diet. We've just done a better job of redirecting that energy to where it'll actually pay versus having energy just fueling your immune system that's trying to cope with these disease challenges. So it all comes down to this one big measurable, and that's weight gain, but then quality in terms of, you know, what you're incentivized for in in your production. We've talked about the starting. We've talked about meat quality. You've mentioned getting them up to the bunk faster. That's a a huge thing with our program is getting them we have a old we had an old nutritionist that said for years, for feedlot cattle, healthy, hungry, up at the bunk. He said, I don't care what the program is. I want healthy, hungry, up at the bunk. So that's what we built the Turbo Boost program around, driving those three levers. But glad for any other insights into this this space that we're talking about. Well, think most notably just just in our in our local business here with, you know, limited use of the turbo boost paste, but last fall on some high risk type calves. And we had one local, darter backgrounder yard here, using the paste. His comment was, you know, normally his cattle, upon initial pull, he would be in the quote unquote sick pen, for anywhere from two to seven days. And with the advent of the turbo boost paste, he was returning a lot of cattle after first treat back to the home pen within two days. Wow. That to me said it all and and, you know, he was he was a believer right up front just for that simple reason. Yeah. I think this recurring theme we keep hearing and you've alluded to it is the number of retreats. Because when you get that second you got a doctor for the second time, yeah, you're getting a big knock as far as your grading. But sometimes those end up being chronic in the sick pen and they don't go nowhere. If they die, it's hard to make money on a dead calf. If they're flat lining, well, it's hard to make money on a calf that's not gaining. So this is getting that immune system dialed in and then having that immune response. We're not going to say there's no stress or no challenges. There's weather going like this, you might have other stress factors. What we're trying to do is build into that calf the ability to deal with stress and respond. And I call it that immune response activation. It's like a if you think of a military base, you know, an immune system is like a military base. It's equipped, it's ready, it's armed, it's got, trained troops. But as soon as there's a threat, that military base goes into high alert. And that's like the on switch on the immune system in a calf. And that's what we're working so hard, with our technology, all natural technology, to equip that calf with the ability to fight off those disease challenges from the inside out with its own immune response. You know, I'm not privy to the ingredients that are in the turbo boost but I think one of the one of the key features is that appetite stimulant. Yes, sir. Because if you keep that belly of that calf full, happier he is, the less stress you put on him. The, you know, the nutrition is there and it's readily available and that keeps that immune system tuned for that small amount of time. I think that's a huge benefit and and that's the comments that we've had in again in the limited use that we've used that the comments from anybody that's used it is those calves are sucking right to the bunk. They're staying hydrated. And I think that that's one of the keys that is being attained. That's great. I appreciate the feedback. As we wrap up, any thoughts on the the industry, the optimism, potential risks? If there was ever a time, I guess, to get out of your box and try something new, this might be the best time to do it in my mind because look at the dollars you got to work with. When you got a the average five weight calf bringing anywhere from twenty five hundred to twenty seven hundred dollars a head, You got a lot of these big calves dollar and up anywhere from twenty seven and a half to twenty nine hundred dollars a head. There's a little extra jingle left in the pocket. The ranchers are being rewarded right now. So if there was ever a time to step out of your box and try something new, I think this is this might be the time. To maintain the health of that animal is key in in the success of your operation. Absolutely. Well, Terrill, I stand in awe of ranchers and folks like you that are stewards of the land. And I think we need to encourage this spirit of stewardship of our extra jingle. Everybody, we're thrilled and and ranchers deserve it, but I think we need to be also wise stewards of that extra jingle. My my input on that would be look at it so in a way that you you use your money to make money. Don't sometimes if you're having a really good year, you can almost get lax in your in your how you manage that. And if we can use that to make wise decisions for the future, I think that's a a great whether that's genetics or whether it's stepping out of the box on other nutrition or, you know, upgrading the the carrying capacity of your ranch or the way you manage it. Well, that concludes us, on today's That Ranching podcast. Thanks for joining us, and we will see you next Thursday.
AUDIO VERSION
Terrill Ostrom runs Lazy TM Livestock in Red Lodge, Montana and brokers cattle nationwide through Crossroads Cattle Company, moving upwards of 240,000 head a year.
This week, Terrill sits down with Trevor to talk about what's really driving sickness, retreats, and lost genetic potential in newly received calves — and why gut health and immune response are the two levers that matter most in that first 60 days.
We're talking:
Why the first treat can cost a calf 20% of its shot at Choice or Prime — and a second treat pushes that risk past 80% Early Turbo Boost trial results out of Oklahoma, the Texas Panhandle, and East Texas: treat rates cut by half or more, death loss down to zero in one trial, and weight gain up as much as half a pound per day Why "healthy, hungry, up at the bunk" is the whole game in a starter program A backgrounder's real-world result: calves back in the home pen within 2 days of first treat, down from up to a week
If you're starting calves — whether high-risk sale barn cattle or your own home-raised weaned calves — this conversation is a straight-shooting look at where the real money is made (and lost) in that first 60 days.