#39 | What Keeps a Ranching Family Going for 142 Years?

One neighbor told me, he said, it's a good thing guys have a short memory. He ranches also. And he said, because if we could remember how bad things were last year, we wouldn't be here today. Well, back to that ranching podcast. We are here today in Valentine, Nebraska, South Of Valentine, joined by Shane Keller. And we wanna talk to the viewers today a little bit about an enduring ranch, something that spans generations, and then try to do a little deeper dive as to what makes it enduring in the face of a lot of challenges and hardships. So Shane, is it right that the Keller's have been around here since the eighteen eighties? Yes. 1884 Keller's homesteaded on the river about 10 miles south of here. Shane, maybe just give a little introduction to the viewers as to, you know, where where you're at today and a little bit about the ranch. I lost track how many generations it was, but so however many it was. You said you said your great grandpa? Yes. We're... Your grandpa, your dad, yourself. I'm fifth and my boy who's moved back two years ago would be the sixth. Sixth. And then you got some grandkids? Yes. So the seventh in the making kinda. Yep. Sure. That's a pretty big deal. That seven generation span has has weathered and navigated a lot a lot of challenges. Yep. We're in good times in the cow calf industry in 2026, but it hasn't always been that way. Correct. Maybe take us back to the early days, 1884. I don't remember them. What's up with your memory? So Shane and I know each other quite well because he has been part of the Rio family since 2012, which is how many years ago? Fourteen. That is fourteen years. So Shane is a little bit like part of the Rio family. Shane, yeah, take us back to 1884. So let's just off the stories that have been put together off on the Keller family that in '84, homesteaded... Family homesteaded down on the river, 11 kids. So they started branching out. We are not on an actual homestead. You might see the trees over there. Be my grandpa homesteaded that. And that is still in family. There's too many kids there. So my grandpa moved on to this place. I think my dad, I don't know if he was a year old or not, so about '43, '44 I think, came over here but we did not actually homestead the place I'm on. Okay. But but back in the eighteen eighties, wasn't the Keller family the first white family to settle in this area? Supposedly in Southern Terry County. It was the same year Valentine was established. Pretty neat history. Was there was there a story about that? The Indians, when they would migrate back and forth, they camped out north of the homestead and they would go down into the homestead and John Keller was born and a baby. And they... I don't know how many times it was but more than once the Indians would come down there. They'd never seen a white baby before and they wanted him and they would try to trade for that baby. Okay. So I don't know how my ancestors slept very well at night, but... Wow. Well, they hung on to the baby and then they hung on to the legacy. Yeah. And it's still alive today here in October 2026. So Shane, talk to us a little bit about how does your ranching operation endure? You know, you can speak to the viewers a little bit about what is it in terms of your values or your rule system that enables you to endure through thick and thin? Short memory. I don't remember the bad times. Honestly... That's called optimism, I think. Long long time ago, a neighbor told me, he said, it's a good thing guys have a short memory. He ranches also. And he said, because if we could remember how bad things were last year, we wouldn't be here today. And I think of that often. But really, it's the lifestyle I love and I wanna be able to pass that on to my kids. And to pat myself on the back I guess, it's amazing the compliments we get about our kids. And it's other rural kids, you can just tell. And I'm not putting anybody down, but there's a difference when people have responsibilities and have to go out and do things and take care of things and are responsible for it. There's a difference and I want to pass that on to my kids and grandkids and that's how I want to bring them up. Well, that's... I stand in awe of that and we'll we'll get back to, you know, your your actual values here in a minute, but just to bounce to... What are you most passionate about? Like, what what really drives you to do what you do? My family, to be able to have some... Build something up worth passing on. Worth passing on. The land and the cattle. Yeah. So so that that helps us understand what your true north is. And I think there's many listeners that would very much associate or understand that. So back to your values, you had an old saying about taking care of the cows or how did that go? Growing up, my dad always told me if you take care of the cows, they'll take care of you. And so that's always kinda been my true north is taking care of the cattle. I wanna have a good reputation of being known for good cattle. To take care of the cattle, you have to take care of the land. You take care of the land, that'll help take care of the cattle. Are you saying that this taking care of the cattle and taking care of the land is pivotal to enduring? Yes. What you've done? Yes. I was looking back, you talked about reputation, and we know reputations don't grow on trees. They gotta be earned and they gotta be nurtured and they gotta be built. You've sold calves... Go ahead. It's probably someone trying to buy genetics. I thought I shut it off. They knew what we were gonna talk about. We're just about to start talking about genetics. They like what they see in your calves and what was that? The same person you've been working with? Since '91. '91? Thirty four years. '34, thirty five years. Been selling cattle too. Why is that? Because they feed out good. He knows what they can do, and he doesn't even come look at them. He hasn't for years. He just comes and picks them up and takes them home. Well, I think that says a lot because now we're tying this legacy into and then identifying the principles or the values that guide you, and then taking that right through to, you might say, the tangible measurable of what that looks like, that you've got a reputation that's thirty five years strong and still going. I guess, looking at all of that, and then coming back to the economics, basically the ranching business as an entity to make a profit, can you talk to your view on managing a ranch to produce a profit versus I realize there's a lifestyle, living a good life, but this is the earning a good living part of it, you know, that goes... It's very tough very often because the cattle markets vary so much like the grains do, but it's usually the lowest thing out there really. Everybody thinks we're rich because they hear what we got per head or whatever, but takes takes a lot of money to operate. And that's where you gotta pinch your pennies and I don't tightwad, pinch pennies, whatever. To me, pinching pennies is what I do. I wanna get the most out of that penny. I I don't wanna be a cheapskate, but you gotta buy something of value that's gonna give you a return on your investment. And you just... You gotta pencil everything out and see what's gonna work. Words of wisdom here. You know, we have that old saying at Rio, get more out of what you've already got, but you were doing that long before Rio. You had a popcorn story to that point? So... Oh, yeah. I like Jolly Time popcorn. I like making popping my own corn and before I got married, I always used Jolly Time. We're not sure if my wife's tighter than me or not yet. Been married several years. Pretty pretty close. Yeah. And so our children that have both of us in them are really bad. But anyhow, she she does a great job of pinching pennies and trying to make things save money and make... Get good return while she was buying me off brand popcorn. Didn't wanna ruffle any feathers in the beginning of marriage. Not over popcorn. Yeah. So I let it go for quite a while. And then finally, said, is enough, know. There's too many unpopped kernels. Yeah. The bag was cheaper per bag, but there's a lot more waste. Less feedings per bag. Yep. I did have to bring it up and we eat all the time popcorn now. With a lower cost per feeding. Well, I I think it's really cool to see how the the legacy comes. It doesn't... You don't just leave a legacy by mistake. Like, there is so much that goes into it, and the more we dig and the more we talk to Shane, the more we we understand there's there is a reason or a foundational thing that underpins the resilience or the endurance of this ranch. And that's come all the way down to the fact that you gotta make every penny, stretch every penny, get more out of every penny. How do you see there any correlation or overlap with the use of Riomax or Rhyzogreen? How does that, if it does, help you achieve what you're trying to achieve? I mean, it's been fourteen years, so I thought you bought from us just because we're nice people, but it must be more than that. Wait. Didn't see Nothing to do with that. I knew I was asking for You said that. Back to the penciling out. Exactly. When I first saw a Rhyzio ad, started penciling things. And it penciled out to be cheaper than what I was currently doing. Can I just ask, how do you pencil? Are you so techy you don't know what that... I just wanna know how, like, do you determine if something is penciling out well or not? Like, how... Goes to the popcorn feeding. Feeding? Yep. How many feedings you get per head, what it's gonna cost you per head per day. Okay. So kinda the old apples to apples deal. Yep. Yeah. Sorry to interrupt. Keep going. I lost track. We got the pencil. But yeah, so pencil penciling that down, breaking it down to how much those cows are eating per day. That's where your true expense is. It's not what you paid for the product, how much can I get out of it? You gotta divide that into it. Yeah. And then you figure out what it costs you per head per day. And then you have to check and see what the results are. The results are a lot harder to pencil. A lot of them are harder to actually pencil pencil, but you can get an idea. But you know, is this... What's this one doing for me? What's this one doing for me? What am I getting out of it? Yeah. And like I said, that stuff's all harder to pencil but then that breaks it down. If you can feed a more expensive upfront product but you're getting more feedings so that breaks it down to cheaper and then you're getting better results as in health of cattle, pregnancy rates, weight on calves. Yeah. So you've talked about figuring out the cost per head per day way back in 2012. At that time, or in those 2012, 2013, what were some of the first results you saw? I know they're a little harder to pencil, but you must have seen something? First one was calf weights. I was weighing everything, and all we did was change the tub we were using and for a three year period we got a quarter pound of gain a day more on our calves after weaning. I mean from the day we weaned them we weighed them And the only thing we changed was that orange tub. And you keep them around how long from weaning? It probably was until November Yeah. Before I weighed them again. It it varied October, November. It'd be anywhere from forty five to sixty days. I was gaining a quarter pound a day more. I mean, I I had weighed and kept track what I was doing before. And then when we switched, I continued because I wanted to know if that orange thing was worth it. And so, I mean, it has been. That was the calves and I liked what it did on them. So then I started using it on our first calf heifers and I was very frustrated because they weren't cleaning their hay up. I saved the best hay for those young cows that are growing. Sure. And I thought I was feeding them bad hay and I... Next day I'd look at it and I'd get out and walk through it and it's all good. Heifers look really good and and And what are they doing? Nothing. Just don't care. Just chilling. Yeah. They're content, happy. Yeah. And then it dawned on me that product is supposed to help their rumen break down their forage intake so they get more out of it. So you... They don't eat as much. So I fed them less hay. And so you cut them back on hay. Did you see any body condition fall off or drop off or... They look better. Yeah. Okay. So we... This is cool... How do do that? Do you do that? How Eat less and look better. What you do is you work with mother nature. I can't tell you everything. Okay. But it's feeding the good guys, feeding the rumen microbes. There's more of them, they're more active and they do a better job of breaking down your forages. Whether it's out grazing or hay meadows or hay or silage in the wintertime, whatever the program is. If there's more of the good guys that do the job of breaking down forage or feed, we get more nutrient extraction. Those cows are happier sooner. So this is... Guess you've probably got a few stories and I'm probably a fool to ask you to tell them because I don't know what's coming. He has a habit of giving me a hard time. I don't know why. I sure don't ask for it. But over these fourteen years, we can dive into some more results here in a bit. But working with our family business, are you seeing there there is a parallel with the way you're running your ranch for the next generation? Are you seeing any parallels, or are there any stories you can tell? Or just funny stories? Probably all sorts, but... Yeah. Well, while we're waiting You mean the one I told? It's not about results or parallel to the way you run, but you you did mention that you had worked with all three of my daughters over the years in different roles that they were in. They quickly keep leaving you two, don't they? I sadly... They're working with me. I'm not sure that that's the reason, but was there a story about Kristen, the oldest? Yes. Not long after she'd worked for you. I worked closely with her. I'm an emoji guy, but I was very limited. And I was trying to get creative with my emojis and she'd sent me a text about something that... I mean, my response was like, well, whatever. And I thought I sent her that emoji. I just do that whatever again because we gotta freeze in that position. Yeah. Okay. Freeze there. Okay. Keep going. And that's pretty much what I thought I sent. And I guess it was a huggy emoji that I sent. And obviously, I'm older quite a bit old. Well, obviously, old enough to be her dad. And she was kinda wondering why I was sending her a huggy emoji. So she goes to Twain, my manager that I'm working with, and asked him and he just starts laughing because he he knew exactly what the deal was. Calls me and says, what the heck are you doing sending hug emojis? And I'm like, what? I said, that's a whatever. He said, no. That's a hug emoji. Took me six years to find the whatever emoji. You found it? Yep. And then you sent it, didn't you? Yeah. I sent it to Twain because Kristen doesn't really... I don't know. She kinda works with you, not really. She's part time, but... Yeah. I sent it to Twain. He still works with me and I sent it to Twain. This is the emoji I thought I sent. And so he sent it on to Tristan with everything and of course everybody remembered. Oh, okay. And I still think of it every time I try to step out of my comfort zone on emojis. Thought I was gonna get a lawsuit against me. So you were you were with us in... Obviously during the 2020 timeframe when Rhyzogreen was rolled out, and you'd seen firsthand what feeding microbes in the rumen had done in terms of hay or forage savings, what was your initial thought when you heard about Rhyzogreen? Cool. Nah, that's not what you told me. A long time ago, what'd I tell you? Well, took you about two years to ever try this stuff. I thought you might have thought, oh, this is a fufu dust or snake oil that these guys have come up with. Well, I thought it was more for farming. Which fair enough. We did start talking about corn and soybeans. You know, it's... You you have a point. I'm in grassland, cows. Yeah. It... Not not for my area. I tried it right away on the yard and the wife's stuff and we saw a significant difference on our gardening. But yeah, I didn't. And there was a lot of arm twisting to get me to sell it because I'm not a farmer and I thought there's just no no business for me there. Boy, was Well, I you were right technically at that point, but how has that looked in the years that have followed with the use of it with your own ranch and then with customers? It has helped out very a lot. I don't have... Well, no, we do have some test results with some customers. It's improving the quality of the grass. We have improved quantity, but we have also improved quality. And of course mother nature plays a big role in both of them. I mean, with the cows and the land, have to do the best you can and deal with mother nature as it hits you. Yeah. And that's that's kind of you can do the best you can and get the best results you can, but mother nature can have a major effect on that. So you showed me a fence line probably a month ago where in a pasture where you had applied rhyzogreen on pasture, and then the... It was the neighbors. Correct. And so there may have been different grazing management, but it was pretty much the same... Looked to me like the same soil, the same grass, and same amount of rainfall, and we can pull that up here. Can you speak to that? Like, how does that make you feel? Makes me feel great because that's... Now with Rhyzogreen, we applied... Had a guy apply for us yesterday. We do everything aerial out here, and my aerial applicator applied yesterday some pasture for me. I'm excited to see what it'll do out here. I have not done much pasture ground out here, but we did that up there on my grandma's place. And it was not a very good summer and I have not ever seen grass like that up there. And that in Rio, that's what that's doing to the soil and the plant and what Rio's doing to our cows is what's gonna help make this thing stay sustainable and be able to pass something on a value. And passing it on lines right up with what your passion is and the legacy continues. So we're honored to sit here in Cherry County because there's a lot more cows in this county than there are people, is that right? Correct. But I guess the message here is with Riomax, we see a 15 to 30% hay or forage savings, and that applies to if you're on pasture, you know, stretching your pastures, more grazing days. But then the flip side of that is feeding the microbes in the soil with the rhizogreen, we're getting 10 to 30% more production there. So those are our numbers that we've seen across thousands of acres and thousands of cows, not just in Cherry County but all over the Western 0.5 Of North America. And Shane, from where you sit, or let's say representing the ranching community, how do you think that sounds? Does that resonate with where you think folks are trying to get to? I think so. Yeah. I think we could look at it as, are we getting, are we taking care of the cows to get more out of every cow check? Are we taking care of the land to get more out of every acre. It's just a love you have and it's not about making a bunch of money. I mean, you go through tough times and when times are good, you have to figure out how you can save money back to get through the bad times. And the flybys in my mind, they they think they think it's a get rich thing and it's not. You you spend your life trying to pay for everything and then you have that to pass on. But it's not a go in there, you know, you... I mean, I I know of ranches that have been for sale lately and it would take the entire calf crop to pay for the interest alone on the payments on You the can't... It's not an easy thing And you gotta be willing to work hard. You know, people see in town weird hours, that's that's the neat thing is we don't punch a clock. But you always gotta make up for the time you're gone. I mean calving time, you're running around the clock twenty four hours a day and then when times... You can't, you're your own boss which is great but that what you do as a boss makes a difference on whether you make it or not. Know, you you have to prioritize your cattle. You gotta take care of your cattle and you gotta be there. It's what I did. I knew when I was three years old, that's what I wanted to do with my life. And that's two, three, three out of five kids. That's what they wanna do. And I don't know, somehow, like I said, it just... It gets in your heart and you have a love for it. And I guess I don't know how you... You you you can instill it in anybody, I guess, but... Somehow you must have lit that fire and you maybe can't force someone into it, you can inspire them or light the fire. I mean, I'll be honest with you that it's kinda hard for me to encourage a kid to come back and do it because there are so many other jobs out there. You can go make money. If that's all you're in it for, it's a job. And I don't feel like I go to work every day because I'm doing what I like. And when when you do... When you're doing what you like, you're you're not working. You're playing, having fun. I just witnessed Shane and John, your son, and some neighbors weaning these 200 and some calves here this morning and I saw you doing your thing and you were having fun. Mean, it was hard work, but I could tell you were passionate and your heart was in it, and your son was there right with you. So I think that bears testament to what you've just said. You're obviously somebody that's willing to try something new, if if it seems like it'll make sense. What's one of the the most riskiest things you ever tried? Well, don't know the answer if it's still gonna work or not, but marriage. Well, I hope my wife didn't see this one. So far so good. That's that's a hard one. It's a risk every day. I guess probably one of our big... Biggest risks is our genetics. Well, I mean, feed is also... But you know on that a lot. I say that anything, almost anything we try it takes ten years before I know the answer whether I did the right thing. I mean if I try a new something new for genetics, I need that mama cow to stay in the herd for at least ten years to really pay for herself. And that's where you get into all that penciling and figuring and all that stuff again. I mean, you're doing something that's not sustainable in your operation, you're losing money. If you can do something that works and stays with you, you have a better chance of making money. Note, I didn't say you're making money. I said you have a better chance of it. And I mean like all that, you know, your genetics, your feed program, your equipment, every everything you do is high risk. I mean, I'll try to save money and buy cheaper equipment and I usually pay for Everything we do, I mean you gotta... I'm not saying that there's times you can spend less and get by or do good. But most of the time it's cheaper because there's a reason why it's cheap. Well, to that point, I bet you had naysayers when you first started with Riomax or even since. I still do. You still do? People think I'm nuts spending that kind of money on something. And I know neighbors that have used it and they know after they took their expense out, it made them money. But they can't get over that upfront cost. Yeah. Which kinda brings us back full circle to the penciling at first. And like you said, first looking at your cost per day, cost per head per day, apples to apples, but then looking at what levers are we impacting or pulling. The four levers we see consistently across all the cows on Rio is hay or forage savings, conception rates, weaning weights, and herd health or calf health. So Shane, we've talked about this ranch enduring and lasting and staying resilient. And there's some parallels perhaps with Riomax. During the time we've been together, worked together, there has been some me too or look alike tubs come out onto the market, and I'm not here to knock anyone. This is capitalism. Everyone... It's a free country. Do you see any alignment or misalignment with your values in relation to what some of these look alike options have provided? Yes. I know people that have used them. And like I said, well, I was talking about the equipment and stuff. There are some people that can get by. They don't need... People can get by with stuff, but it's very painful when people come out and say they have something just like this but cheaper. And I know it's not. I myself have not seen it on our place because I didn't use them. But I know people that have and it majorly affected them and it cost them a lot of money. How did it affect them? Preg rates was the main one I know. That's the easiest measurement on a cow around here is how they preg up. One of those companies came through and had meetings and told everybody they had the same thing as Riomax, but cheaper. So everybody bought in, or not everybody, several people bought into it. And I'm not saying it majorly adversely affected everybody, but it did a lot of people. I mean, majorly. And it's very hard to sit there and watch people do that. You can make things look like it's the same on mineral and stuff. You're guaranteed analysis. They've got a list there and you can guarantee all that but you gotta look at your ingredients. What made that guaranteed analysis what it is? Was it a cheap product or was it a high quality product that the cows gonna be able to use instead of poop out the back end? Right. Which if it gets pooped out the back end, I think you're talking about trace minerals, probably doesn't do a lot for conception rates. No. Or milk production or weight gain or anything. Yeah. And, you know, fifteen, twenty years ago, we never had any copycats or look alikes or people saying the same thing as Rio but cheaper. And I'm not here to bash those people but it is becoming more common. What's saddening to me is the actual impact they have like that example you gave of a drastically reduced conception rate. You know, that hurts. Yes, it does. And the rancher that bought that bill of goods is the victim of that story, right? Correct. Someone made money off him and it was not ethically pitched. It's sad to me. I mean, Riomax aside, I think one of the principles that's coming out today is you need to do your math. I'm not that good at math, but you need to get out the pencil and crunch your numbers so that you can in fact make the best decision for you. Whether that's brand X, Y, or Z, I'm not saying Riomax even needs to be part of the equation, but as a family business in the agriculture space, it is our duty to help and guide and educate and encourage folks along to make the right decisions so that we can end up with enduring ranching operations as we have here in Cherry County. Just one last thing. Can you talk to the viewers, we talk internally about Q50, which is our family business quest to increase ranch efficiency by 50% with the use of and Rhyzogreen. So Riomax, you're squeezing more out of every mouthful, you're able to use less hay, and on the Rhyzogreen side, we're producing more production per acre, 10 to 15%. Is that something that is perceived as just another dream of Rhyzorb? How do you think folks actually perceive that q 50? That's a dream. It's out there in the clouds. I mean, it's just somewhere. Along with the foo foo dust and the snake oil, here's two fifty. Mean, who would just think, oh, yeah, how is that possible? But I think throughout all of this, we've already kind of explained how it is. Back to the penny, how much can you get out of that penny? How much can you get out of a cow? I don't mean starving a profit out of her, but optimizing her genetic potential. How much can you get out of every acre? How much can you get out of a ranch? You said you're not in it for the money, but there's years that you can make money, there's years that are tight, but as a company we have a purpose that is driving profitability back to rural North America. There's just those levers you can pull to increase the efficiency of the ranch, which an old timer told me twenty years ago, he said efficiency never goes out of style. I think we're seeing that come full circle where more and more folks are looking at how can we get more out of our ranching operation without a whole bunch of inputs. Yeah, that's the only way we're gonna make it. To wrap up here, what advice would you have for the listeners as to adopting this stewardship of the land or leaving a legacy? What's the best thing, you know, maybe one or two simple things they can do? Get on a good program with your cattle, take care of your cows, and take care of your land. Take care of your grass, and they'll take care of you. Well, back to your dad's quote. Right? Take care of your cows, and they will take care of you. Well, that wraps us up for that ranching podcast. Thanks for joining us, and we will see you next Thursday morning.