Agriculture is about keeping food on the table, keeping a community, being involved in in what's happening around you, and and caring enough to be involved. Well, back to That Ranching Podcast. We're thrilled to be in Tatum, New Mexico today joined by Brad Harris sitting at the kitchen table. Brad, can you introduce yourself to the viewers? Absolutely. I'm Brad Harris and we are a five and six generation ranching farm family here in Southeastern New Mexico. Our family came here. They homesteaded here before it was even a state and we're just grateful to be here today in this hot wonderful summer day out here where it rains all the time. And and where you can definitely see a jackrabbit running across the prairie for the dirt that he throws up. So, thank you We for having we are one and a half miles from the Texas line. But this used to be Texas and then they re. Absolutely. Absolutely. Yeah. We're we're on a historic ranch. You said 5 5th And 6th. Yes. And I I like that because it it kinda alludes to the topic we wanna touch on today that is so near and dear to our heart and and everybody in ranching is the generational aspect, know. But before we get into that Brad, maybe for the viewers, tell a little bit about your operation here and your family and Absolutely. Yeah. Well, you know, we've We have a seed stock operation and we raise registered Angus bulls and we service a large area of commercial breeders that that are raising, you know, more of a top a top end commercial type herd that will, you know, perform in the feed yard, that will perform on the ranch, that will, you know, yield more, you know, more red meat for for what we're what what they're consuming here. You know, our our environment here is semi arid. I mean, mostly arid. We don't always have rain. We've gotta produce we've gotta produce as much as we possibly can and then get the most out of it. Yeah. And so with that being said, our operation is an operation where we're here to try to serve our our community, our friends, the different people that we'll meet. We work extensively on every aspect of the cattle market that we can. We operate in a cow calf operation, we operate in stocker operation, we operate in feeding cattle all the way through to the end. And we're currently working on things where we can look at the end, the packing end of it, and being able to evaluate, you know, things like nutrient density and things of that order so that we can better serve, you know, the the public. So it's really broad. I love it. And and we were just in the Texas Panhandle earlier today. So obviously, that's the home of a lot of know, lot of beef is fed there. A lot of feed lots and and I think in that area is where the originally the the way red beef is is grated. It came out of that, you know, as far as your marbling. And so I'm not here to challenge the status quo or the the way beef is graded, but it is graded on marbling which is the fat within the muscle. But Brad, you mentioned an interesting thing that I think is a very under loved subject, and and I think we're gonna see more developments on this. It's not the topic of this podcast, but it could be a future one. You said nutrient density. You know, imagine going to the store and selecting not just on fat in your meat, which is great by the way, love beef, love marbling, but but on nutrient density, perhaps iron levels, vitamin a, d. And and we've seen the maha movement make America healthy again. And suddenly, beef has gone from something that was almost frowned upon, red meat. And now, as as Secretary Kennedy said, it's at the center of the plate. And it should be. But I think we're gonna see beef taking steps further towards a health food because it is. It's it's it packs a plethora of nutrients there, but no one's getting rewarded on it. Or are they? Maybe you've got something we don't know yet. Well, you know, I think that these are these are all things that we have to put into the equations. And and the the equation that's set is we come to the table realizing that there is a a mathematical equation that we don't have the answer to. And it's there for a reason, because we're supposed to be the ones that find the answer to it. In agriculture, we have a plethora of problems. And when I'm saying problems, I'm referring more to the idea when you go to math class and the teacher's written up on the board a bunch of math problems that need to be solved. And it's not a problem, it's that it begs an answer. Yeah. And so, in today's world, we have to be careful to not fall into the trap of the idea that all problems have already been answered. There's a unique set of problems for each generation that need to be answered. They beg to be answered. That's why we're here today, and this is why we're in this world today, is to answer these questions and to find the answers to them. So, in years past, when you consider health of a nation and people working hard outside and doing all of the things that involved, you know, everything from active lifestyle to coming into the world that we're in today where we're air conditioned, thank God, and we're heated and A 106 out there. A 106 out there. Yeah. Yeah. We turn on the we turn on the water and we can get a drink. We don't have to worry about whether we've got water in the cistern or not because it rained or didn't rain. I mean, we've fought generations before us have solved a lot of equations and given us answers. Now we come into this scenario, agriculture today, with problems that beg answers. And so we have things, health things that are going on. We have climate change that's going on. We have all kinds of of of things that are, you know, beyond our control that if we come together, we have an opportunity to to find answers. We were created to come up with answers. Yeah. I I think it's really our our responsibility to lean into some of these issues that face us. And I've been accused sometimes of having a dream that might only ever be a dream. One of them is in in the feedlot starter phase, know, days is to get by with minimal antibiotic usage. Not because I'm against antibiotics, But on the flip side. I'm all for a healthy end product that relies less on on Stimuli or props. Okay, so and I've said I have a dream that we can get away from antibiotics at that highest risk, highest stress time of that calf's life. People laugh at me and they probably should. But I will say that once you have a dream and you're chasing a goal that is, according to the general public unreasonable and not possible, you will find that doors start opening. That's right. And I think to your point, we have problems in different maybe different set of challenges in different generations. But I think it dovetails well, Brad, into what we'd like to discuss today. And that is, if I could say, there's a problem in agriculture that me or you alone can't do anything about. We can we can't change the world, but we can maybe influence some things. And that is, I walk into your your ranching operation, your house, and I'm I'm met by your family, and there's there's a unmistakable generational vibe. And it's quite different to what you find in a lot of ranches. I am privileged to get on a lot of ranches all over the Western 0.5 of The US and Canada. But we see the youth moving away. They're going to the the coasts, or they're going to the cities, or they're going to the oil fields. And fair enough. Maybe they've got their reasons because they're looking to earn a a better living or is that something we could talk about today, Brad? Absolutely. You know, Trevor, I've been blessed with the the opportunity to raise eight children. And I have currently two daughters and and six boys. And we've sent them, you know, the older ones that are college age have been, most of them been through college and, you know, and and studied, you know, studied ag programs and with the intent of trying to come back and find a way to make viable things that that don't seem viable. To make possible what seems impossible. So I mean the way that the way that I like to explain it the best that it it makes sense to me is there's ag industry and then there's agriculture. And an ag industry is is a beautiful tool in the hand of agriculture. But ag industry having agriculture in its hand is a really bad mistake. Because industry is focused on on the on the return on investment. It's it's about stocks. It's about portfolios and how things operate. Agriculture is about keeping food on the table. Keeping a community. Being involved in in what's happening around you and and caring enough to be involved. Yeah. And so, ag industry developed out of agriculture. And and and so we're in a time when the focus has gotten to be about ag industry and how do we push push push push push and turn this into a bottom line and that be the only focal point. But we forget that it's agriculture is where the grid is. Agriculture is where people meet people. That's where the the consumer has the opportunity to put a face behind the producer. To connect back to the land that they may not ever know, they might not ever you know, own, but they have an opportunity to say, is a family. This is a real people. This is generations. Well, I I think there's a there's a quote iron sharpeneth iron and you've just said something that kind of hits me because at Rhyzon Nutrition our purpose and you can find it online. I'll say it right now is driving profitability back to rural North America. So I say that and I'm like, boy, what you've just said, that that sounds more like ag industry. And industry has a lot less of a of a you know, it's it's got less life to it than what you say ag culture, agriculture. Culture versus industry. And I've been thinking about this and and we've been talking about it at with the family the family business and You know we we're not going to back down from our drive to help impact profitability in a ranching or farming operation because that's part of you know having a functioning ecosystem and keeping the youth But it's much bigger than USD or Canadian dollars. It's much bigger than that. It includes that, but I mean I I think we need to be relooking at our purpose in the light of is it more about and I'm gonna throw this out there. You can shoot holes in it. Is it more about helping folks earn a good living in ag and live a good life and leave a good legacy? How does that sound? You know, think that that is a a That it's noble. It's noble in task and purpose. You know, and along the same lines of earn a good living, it put it into into a context. You know, you can go and and a person can earn a good living. If I'm a doctor or I'm a lawyer, can earn a good living. But that doesn't mean that my kids are gonna get anything from that. They are gonna have to become a doctor or a lawyer Yeah. And then they're gonna have to step up and do their own thing. Now, in agriculture, if we can help them do the very things that you spoke of along with give them a vision. A vision. A vision for that future. Yeah. Then then out of the vision for the future that that we can help them get. Then they will have the strength, the fortitude, the grit necessary to pursue it and and see it come to pass. So when I when I think about a vision, I think about you know an idea that that encompasses the desire of the heart first. And and the desire of the heart is to is to be needed and have a purpose. Because you can you can you can fall short of a million things, but if you have a purpose and you're needed, you'll find a way. As a as a parent, as someone who is going to lay something and and and hopefully an inheritance up for my children or maybe a dream up for my children. You know, I have to be able to articulate and hand off a purpose. And if if we take a purpose like agriculture and we say, you know, a purpose in agriculture is is is multifaceted. But the first and most important purpose in agriculture is to reconnect the populace, the people back to the provider, the source. And so in agriculture, we are a direct link to connect people back to God, To the Creator. And when we do that, we find that in that, we have an opportunity to teach people how to be giving and how to care and put other people's needs before ourselves. And when we do that, then we begin a process of building what maybe maybe the maybe one of the hardest things in in in our society in in agriculture as a whole is helping the next generation build on a foundation that won't be divided. And that begins with marriage. And so, if we can put purpose before we put marriage, then marriages hold together. Then families hold together. And then people grow. So, to find purpose is and meaning is is where a vision is. And if you don't believe that there's a purpose and a meaning for the next generation in agriculture, then you're you're pouring cold. You're pouring water on the fire. Because there is a purpose and a meaning. You just don't believe it yet. And if we paint the picture that that it ends all with us and you know, the last thing I want is you know, going back into the seventies and the eighties and things of that order. And even the nineties, know, people, young people would leave the farm and they'd be like, when I got off that tractor, when I turned 18, was the last time I fed those cattle. Told I my dad, here's the keys. I really appreciate it. We'll see you later. I'm gonna go make a living for myself. I'm not I'm tired of doing this. To where I wanna see the kids, you know, get off of whatever they were doing, the tractor or the horse and say, man, I loved it today. It was hard and it was great. You know, I'm glad we got to do this dad. The funnest times I ever had is when we all work together. Yeah. You know, I want that to be a culture, a legacy we pass on and we wanna give them an opportunity to do that. And that's what I appreciate about Riomax and what you guys are doing. Because for that very reason is how we met. I mean, because of the point I was looking. Was saying, hey, how in the world am I gonna take these yearling bulls and keep flesh on them and while they're in breeding season to my customers and you know, these guys, know, it's it's nobody wants to be feeding in in in April and May and June, know, but we don't have steady rains and we don't know what's gonna happen and and so how do we keep these bulls in good shape? And so that brought me to Riomax. And and so with that in mind, it has filled a whole lot of other equations and help me find answers to that help me be more successful and help my customers be successful. And so that in mind is what what started me on Riomax is how can I help them be successful with their operation? Notice he he keeps using this word help. And and I love that because as long as we're helping folks Yep. And the like the Riomax dealers are driven to help. Yep. Make an impact not just financially, but also that that leaving a legacy being good stewards of the land, but having something to pass on and and and and giving a vision as you said, I think is is exactly what we need, but to your point, if if we can create a Ag system, agriculture that has a true culture to it. Where young people are thrilled they're attracted to stay. It's not easy. Nothing worthwhile in life is. Nothing that I found anyway. But I think you'll find that with purpose and and a vision that it'll attract the youth back. Imagine more young people coming back into ranching and farming. I mean how many towns have I driven through in the last two decades dead or dying towns. Right. And again, can't change the world, but can we can we light a fire in people's hearts to show that there there is a way. There is way we can do this and the answer is not necessarily Rhyzor or Trevor but can we be part of it maybe but if nothing else if we can work to bring the culture back in to ag, so we've got agriculture and it's worthwhile, the juice is worth the squeeze. Absolutely. You know, Trevor, this is one of the things that I'm really passionate about. And I was reading a book the other day. There was an Andy Andrews book. And one of the quotes he was talking about is he was talking about in history that we've been sold a bill of goods, an idea that, you know, children were were going to overpopulate the world to the point that the world wouldn't have enough resources. And and he went through and and he really he did a lot he did the research and then just showed. He said, look, there has never been children that starved due to the fact there weren't enough resources available except for the fact when there were tyrannical governments and people doing evil things. Because always always there's been enough. And we've risen to the to the occasion to help and to come forward with what was necessary to supply what was needed. Now, that being said, in agriculture, we've taken the same we took the same bad medicine. We said the farm's not big enough to support us all. The ranch won't support us. We don't have enough money. We don't have enough capital. We don't have enough, you know, there's not enough land for everybody. We can only have one or two children. Maybe one can come back and have this thing. And we bought into that bill of goods as a whole and we have to change. If we wanna change what's out there, have to change what's in here. So we've gotta we've gotta be believers ourselves. We have to believe that we don't have to be dividers of things but we can be multipliers of it. And, if we can surround ourselves with that kind of a view and believe that, we can see it. I promise you, you know, the inventions of the days, the the the you know, everything from our our internet to our I mean, you can sit there and ask your phone questions and it can search the databases of everywhere and then give it to you instantaneously now. And all of these things were not answered, you know, ten years ago. And and twenty years ago, they weren't in people's mind. But once they started becoming in their mind, they became a reality. You know? And so, what can we do as agriculture if we are willing just to dream a little bit and get a little vision beyond. Instead of looking at it and saying, hey man, I'm already sold on the whole idea that this next generation just will not have enough. You know? And so, we're out here in the desert so to speak. It's getting hotter. It's been hotter. We get rains, you know. We have more drought years than rainy years. But that's not that's not a reason for me to tell my kids, look, there's not gonna be enough for all of us. I look at them and say, hey, you know what? You have You were put into this world to be To to find answers and to be an answer. You didn't break this world. This world has has strategic math problems for you to find answers to. And when you do that, the world will be better because of it. And it's gotta start here. Well, think that, almost wraps us up. Very inspiring. Yes, there's challenges. Yes, there's problems. But I think as Brad has alluded to, it's on us in agriculture to lean in. And you know, you spoke about the the fallacy or the the idea, crazy idea that we would run out of resources. I don't support that. And we always have a saying, you know, get more out of what you've already got. The audience has possibly heard me say that before. Get more out of every acre. Get more out of every mouthful. Get more out of every cow. Get more out of your ranching operation. And the first thing you need to get more out of though, before all that happens, is get more out of your frame of reference and your you know perhaps how you see the world and I think Brad is giving us some awesome ideas and how to think differently and give the next generation the hope they need to stay in. Yes. We need resilience. Yes. We need, toughness, but, it's a great industry, and, I'm proud to be a small puzzle piece in this. Brad, as we wrap up, I I wanna thank you for having us here at Tatum, New Mexico. And as always, thanks for joining us, and we will see you next Thursday morning. Thank you.
AUDIO VERSION
Today we're joined by Brad Harris, a fifth and sixth generation rancher from Tatum, New Mexico, running a registered Angus seed stock operation, for a truly special episode at the kitchen table. We talk about bringing the next generation back into ranching, giving family operations a real vision, faithfulness in marriages, and connecting people back to their creator, God. Along the way, we get into beef grading, nutrient density, and where Brad sees the beef industry heading.