What happened when this ranch stopped using riomax for a year

We don't wanna put stuff that God didn't intend to go into our beef. And so that really was a really turning point for us is is stepping away from it for a year and then seeing the overall health of our cattle, we will never not use it. My name is Shalane Graham. My husband, Jeff, and I own and operate the ranch where I grew up, so I'm a fifth generation rancher. We were just really looking for something that would boost their immune system when we would wean the calves. We've tried various other options, but a neighbor of ours was using Rio. And really the main thing for my husband, Jeff, was that Rhyzogreen would deliver right to the place and we are in a very rural area and I teach part time so sometimes it's just my husband wrangling all of this. That piece was really important to him where Rhyzio would deliver the product right through our door. We started using Rhyzio in twenty seventeen. Twenty nineteen we just weren't we weren't able to purchase Rhyzio and we were able to see firsthand stepping away from it for a year and then seeing the overall health of our cattle and our yearlings and at weaning time. And so from that year of not using it is really when we just determined that that Rio would always be a part of our program. It's an invaluable piece of our operation that we will never not we will never not use we will never not use it. That's not very good. I'm an educator. Don't use that. Educator. Don't use that. Consistently use it. That's what I should say. My parents retired in two thousand twelve and we learned from how my dad ran our operation. So dad was really all about drug free and, you know, not giving a lot of extra vaccines. We don't do implants. We don't creep our cattle. And so that was another thing that drew us to Rio because your product is it's all natural and, we take great pride in producing the product that consumers are going to consume and we consume the same product. And so we don't want to put stuff that God didn't intend to go into our beef. We can have bouts in our area with pink eye and we can still have we had a little bit of it in our replacement heifers. And I feel like, you know, the Rio helped them to recover from that where we didn't have to get everything in and treat them. It's huge because we don't we don't have the time. That's part of why we really love Rio because it does the job of, you know, we feel like many many hands just putting out a lick barrel. And my husband created this fun little if we need to move it, I can take the bale bed and it's got a little chain and I can just wrap it around the barrel and pick it up and put it on the flatbed and move veterinarian, she will comment every year on how well our young heifers and our older cows breed up. Phenomenal pregnancy rates. It says a lot for the grams and for the health of their herd. Yes. There's circumstances where there's a rough winter or drought or whatnot, but we really feel that Rio can help fill in that gap. Riomax's Esqort mineral package is one hundred percent protected. We give that mineral the highest scientific chance of getting into the bloodstream, and that is how we're driving reproductive performance. That is how we're driving this fetal programming, ensuring the trace mineral gets into the blood. I would say in this area, fifteen percent open last year was average, with some being much worse because of the really bad winter the year before and these girls were eight percent. If we have one more steer or one more heifer to sell rather than selling a dry cow because that's what we do here, I mean that's huge. That's huge. So more healthy babies that we can have, you know, the better off for our operation. The yearlings too, when we go to wean them, you know, it's a lot less stressful for them because they're already acclimated to the Rio tub and they're a little more content than the years that we were using other options. They're happy. They're content. If they're happy, we're happy. I was videoing our yearlings before they left here and whenever I hear, especially the yearlings, licking on the Rio tubs when we roll them out, I I have said that it's the sound of pounds. This year, my husband and I sold yearlings in Faith on the nineteenth and they topped the market there and then they were also made mention of on the national beef wire. Was fun. It was fun to have, you know, a little dog fight over our livestock, especially this year. There was there was a bit of a downturn in the market and and our cattle still did very, very well. We have great genetics. We use Wilkin bulls and my husband is as consistent as they come when he feeds his animals in the wintertime. And we try to move him around and manage the grass the best that we can, but Rio is very much part of the success of our livestock. I mean, does hurt to pay the price of Rio. I'm not gonna lie. And it does hurt him and he complains about it, but when he goes and you look at the hair of our cows, the condition of our calves, you know, how our yearlings look, their coats are shining, their feet look good, their eyes look good, It pays for itself. And Jeff has even said that. I've joked that he's the one that said that. He's the guy that invented that? I think he might have been because he just said it it's it pays for itself.