How Two New Mexico Families Built A Ranch Partnership That Lasts with Cortese & Lee Cattle Co.

A ranch partnership sounds simple until you price a feeder calf, hit a drought, or unload fresh cattle that have never seen a hot wire. We’re out near Fort Sumner, New Mexico with Luke and Donna Cortese and Taylor and Kayla Lee to tell the full story of how two families build a cattle operation together and why trust, fairness, and daily discipline matter more than hype.

We talk through the real work behind New Mexico beef production: turning calves out safely, pushing cattle to water, setting up vaccine and mineral programs, cleaning tanks, and using limit feeding to spot health problems before they turn into wrecks. You’ll also hear how modern ranching uses practical technology like cameras on remote water, Bluetooth feed-truck scales, group texts, FaceTime, and drones with infrared to find calves when weather and terrain make the job harder.

Then we zoom out to the business side of ranching and agriculture. We get honest about thin margins, big capital needs, labor shortages, and why risk management tools like hedging and Livestock Risk Protection insurance matter when markets move fast. Throughout it all, the theme stays consistent: stewardship of land and cattle, investing in people, learning from failure, and keeping your word when it costs you.

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Transcript

Welcome And Meet The Families

Carollann Romo 0:04

Welcome back to another episode of Behind the Burger. I'm Carollann Romo, the Executive Director of the New Mexico Beef Council. I'm here in Fort Sumner or outside of Fort Sumner, New Mexico, with the Lees and Corteses. We've got Kayla to my left, Taylor, Luke, and Donna. Thank you guys so much for having me and for being willing to be on the podcast. You guys want to start with introducing yourself?

Luke Cortese 0:27

Yeah, so my name is Luke Cortese. This is my wife, Donna. We have uh three kids. Jordan is 19, Joe is 15, and uh Mary Ann, aka Mar Mar is uh nine years old. Um we partner with Taylor and Kayla on a lot of the things that we do, and uh we ranch here in New Mexico and we do what we love.

Taylor Lee 0:52

Yep. And uh my name's Taylor Lee. That's my wife, Kayla. We have two kids, Audre and Carson. They're four, fixing to be five and uh two, so that's been fun. Um yeah, so I I grew up in Texaco um farming and for my granddad and my uncle. And um, you know, when we first started, I was a little kid, and we'd start uh yeah, everything back then was for grain. You know, we'd cut corn and wheat for grain, grow cotton. Um, and then as my uncle kind of diversified, uh, he got into the to the dairy side and switched up. Everything went for silage at that point. So that was kind of a a change. And then as I got older, I um just loved, loved farming. Never at that point in my life, I I wasn't raising cattle, rent, wasn't running cattle or anything, but always wanted to get into it. So as time went on, went to study at college and studied Ag Finance there, um, got my degree, went in uh intern at farm credit, and then I got a job at Ag New Mexico after um after college. And there I was a credit analyst, uh, turned into alumni officer, and then I realized I loved what I did there. Um the people that taught me there, I'll I'm forever grateful what they've taught me. Use a lot of what they did teach me in today's operation, but I just realized being outside's kind of where I was called to be. So went back to farming, um, and then yeah, started started back with my uncle. We changed the farm to being organic, so that was a a whole deal. Um, went from conventional to organic, started cutting stuff for grain. That's when um yeah, corn and wheat would go back, you know, to her for tucum carry, and we they'd make tortilla chips and flour, and so that was really cool. And um, and then started Kayla and I started wanting to run wheat cattle, and so we started running a few, and then we would send them to a conditioning yard here in Fort Sumner, and that's where we got to meet Luke. And that was we started in 2017, though. We but we actually we had met before Ben. Um Luke would get our trucks and whatever we needed. Any questions I had, Luke would answer, and and our our friendship just really kicked off from the and um I like to talk on the phone, Luke likes to talk on the phone. So um, and just our friendship grew. Um, yeah, and then we're like, and let's start doing more of this together. And love Donna and love the love the kids. I got to when Joe, you know, the age that Marianne's at now, um, that's at what Joe's age was, and now he's like seven foot tall, team ropes, like you would never you would never believe he's under native old Bon Jordan. He was a great kid and loved him. So yeah, that's kind of how we got started on all that.

Taylor’s Path Back To Agriculture

Luke Cortese 3:43

So uh my family has um operated the feed store here in Fort Sumner since the 40s. And um my my great-great-granddad uh had the feed store. Um they showed up uh in Fort Sumner, broke, and their family worked and worked and worked, and he had drive like you and believe, putting stuff together. And I always think back on um what was it, you know, they gave him that drive of you know, he had 15 trucks and a feat store and um an ice house and ranches. Uh everybody liked him, but it was you know coming from nothing. And it, I mean, he truly did it. There was people that believed in him, and um then my dad, the same way he had the feed store and operated it for 30 years, plus years probably, and um we learned a lot of hard work. Uh I learned uh what I wanted to do and what I didn't want to do. Uh my um there's people today that uh that we do business with steel, and we're we're the fourth generation, and that my granddad did business with their great-granddad. And so uh that's one thing that that I'm really proud of uh in what we do is that uh not only did we do business with, you know, my great-granddad did business with their great-granddad, and then my granddad did business with their granddad, and my dad did business with their dad, and then I'm doing business with them. Uh, you know, me and Donna uh we met in high school uh when when we were in kindergarten, she had two buck teeth, and I just fell in love with her. Um took a long time to get her to uh to fall in love with me. Um but uh we've dated ever since we were 15. We were high school sweethearts. Um we everything we do, we do together. And um, it's a family operation, me and Donna and um Taylor and his family. Donna uh was a registered nurse and worked 10 years as a registered nurse, and she came home uh and we made the decision that if we're gonna do something, we're gonna do it together. And uh we threw away our insurance and our weekly paycheck, and God has put it all together and took care of us and and made it to where we are today. We we grew if everything we got was something that we worked for and um that we grew and a lot of people entrusted in us and believed in us, and uh we've done a lot of different things and a lot of cool things and got to see a lot of neat stuff together.

Luke And Donna’s Roots And Risk

Building A Partnership That Works

Carollann Romo 6:32

Yeah. Absolutely. Well, and it says a lot about I think not just the industry, but your family and the kind of people you are, that you have those generational relationships, that you have this family business, that you guys as couples can come together and have a business. Um, and that's kind of the whole goal of the podcast, right? Is we I know and I believe that the people of our industry are wonderful. We want consumers to know that, right? That we're not the bad guys. Um, we're the good guys. And you guys are the good guys. You guys are making sacrifices and making this family thing and and how neat is it? You don't hear about that every day, you know, about gen multi-generational and and uh family businesses, right? A lot of times we show up at a restaurant that's a corporate owned, or you show up at things you buy, you know, products that are that are, you know, who knows, who knows who even owns them. Some company owns a company that owns them or whatever. And um, it's just an important story that that I appreciate you guys being willing to tell. So tell me about your guys' operation together and the partnership. Um, you kind of already started with with how it started and all that.

Luke Cortese 7:38

So in in 2017, um we're always looking for wheat, and um we built a friendship with Taylor and his family, and um he he was uh farming and had wheat and clovis and found some wheat, and we were able to partner on cattle together and um run some cattle on some wheat that he had and some wheat that that I had, and um it just made sense that we all work together, and uh you know later in in years uh we see the value of being a partner um and being a partner with someone like with the same goals and that we all work um for the same thing. Um, there's a lot of times that we work, and it might not be the exact way somebody wants, but we get it done. And that um at the end I have his best interest and the he has ours as well. Uh, you know, when cattle have probably doubled at least twice since we started. Yeah. Um, I can remember, you know, kind of back in there we could buy a uh a stalker for $700. Yeah. Yeah. And now it's $2,800. Yeah. So um it has, I mean, doubled twice. So $700 to $14 to $28. Um, and so uh now uh in a short time because of that, you know, it takes equity to uh to get money. And um, you know, so let's say that we find a farm that would run a thousand head, uh, you know, that would be 2.8 million just initial investment. And um, you know, so you go from 1.4 to 2.8, you know, it would take his equity and mine to be able to do that. Otherwise, we would be working for some great uh big cattle guy that runs, and um, we believe in the small town. Um, we believe we also believe uh if me and Donna are gonna do something, we want to be the one hands-on. Um, we've done a lot of things where uh we've allowed other people to be in control of. And uh it, if you look back every time that we got in trouble, it was because of that, or we sent cattle to somebody, and um this way um with Taylor being in Clovis, he can look over that operation, and me here, I can look over this operation, and that we both um want our kids in our family. And um, you know, a lot of people say that um their their wives or their their kids help, but um we I can guarantee you that every single day uh we work together as a family, and you know, there'll be times in the year where we're getting cattle in, and uh it might just be me and Donna, you know, get three loads of cattle in, and we just set a pace and we brand, no one else shows up. Or me and Taylor, or Taylor and Kayla, or or a lot of times me, Donna, Taylor, Kayla, or you know, we might schedule it for the weekend that we work cattle or move cattle, and the boys um earlier in the partnership, we homeschooled our kids, and so it was pretty much free labor every day. Yeah, uh you know, uh we could show up, me and Donna and two kids and Taylor, and um, we could get pretty much everything done that we needed to get done. But um we've grown the partnership. Uh, there's been a lot of people that have opened up to us and um entrusted their ranch with us. Uh there's guys that have leased us their farms. Um when we started, uh we would go, you know, and we would find weed or something. We went all over the country. We um Brownfield, Level In, uh, Guiman, Oklahoma, all and and you know, I can remember every other day picking Taylor up at three o'clock in the morning at Clovis and driving to uh wherever, wherever it was. Yeah, and and working all day. And uh at that time, you know, there there might have been three of us together, and me and Taylor would go look at 5,000 head of cattle and and the boys, and uh we would come in and it'd be late that night, come in, and then the next morning be at Clovis looking at cattle, and uh there was a lot of it still is a lot of long hours, a lot of hard work. Um but you know to have a partner that that's willing to to put in the time just like you are is is huge. Uh and I always say um you never know who your partner's with until you get in a wreck. Yeah. And uh when whenever whenever you're getting cattle in or you're in any sort of agriculture industry, you're gonna you're gonna get out of one wreck right into the other. And um to really see who your partner's with or who their wives are or who their kids are, or uh the everybody's true colors will come out. And um, we see a lot of partnerships um dissolve because of that. Um, you know, everybody wants to make money, everybody wants to, um, but you know, in the end, you can't win every time you you show up.

Taylor Lee 12:55

Yeah, and I think um everybody wants to to partner with somebody like Luke said, you you just there's so many more opportunities that are opened up um from a finance standpoint, you know. Um but like Luke said, you uh you figure out, you know, you're gonna have tough times and you're gonna have to get through it. And um yeah, you need to have someone there by your side that believes in you, believes in the decisions that you make, because ultimately decisions Luke makes affects my family, decisions I make affects her family. And um, yeah.

Luke Cortese 13:26

So you know, um when when we got started, we would show up um to lease somebody's wheat, and um there was only one way that we could get it, and you know, we had to do something more than the guy before. Or, you know, something happened, or like maybe the guy that had it before, um, he gave it away or you know, gave it back. Um so uh there was a bunch of things that that we sat down and me and Taylor talked probably 10 times a day on the phone and analyze and go through things, and um we come up, you know, because Taylor Farms, um, we we came up with a system whenever we do wheat uh that's fair for both sides. Yeah, and um that's one thing that that we stand for is uh everybody has to make money and it has to be fair both ways. And and there's been times we did things that uh because our main name means something, um, and and that we have a backbone. Um one of my favorite sayings is um you gotta have your word and your balls, and that um I tell my kids that every time, and you need to keep all of them. But if if you tell somebody what it is, I mean you have to if even if you work for free for two years, I mean we've done that too. Oh yeah, yeah. And you know, get into a spot where you've got cattle turned out and uh get in a wreck or or uh cattle don't gain or market changes or um but but you spoke one way and you have to make sure that you do it, or or you turn cattle out and you have a death loss that you didn't think that you were gonna have. And you know, most people um the death loss a farmer pays if it's on the gain. And um we do a deal where we subtract if one dead, you know, it comes off the weight um going in. And it's just a lot more fair for the farmer. Yeah, and it just makes more sense. And um a lot of times when when we leave a place, um, you know, and the the farmer gets their check, they you know, they'll look at it and they'll look at us and look at it. Um but um that's one of the ways that you know we've been able to succeed in the wheat and grow. And um you know, Taylor's to the point now that he's farming enough um and some leases that we started with on wheat that um we've we've been able to get almost all we want. Yeah. Plus um just taking care of what Taylor has and and a few of the the leases that we started with. Yeah.

Taylor Lee 16:11

And before we we have a grow yard there in in Texaco now, and before that, man, we would have different people, like Luke said, um, you know, starting our calves for us and um South Texas and New Mexico, everywhere, you know, just trying to find a place to get them in to get them conditioned and come to wheat. And um, so we weren't able to be there from the start. We, you know, you don't ever really know what exactly goes into them. Um, so you know, we wouldn't we didn't even have pins to come back to to like, hey, let's put these cattle on a hot wire, get them, you know, hot wire broke, and then we'll go turn out or let's see what these cattle really look like. So there's a lot of times we get cattle in um out of South Texas, and um, like we would, you know, we'd buy them, they'd be down there for 45 or 60 days, and when they came off the truck, that was the first time we were seeing them uh turning out and we're turned out fresh. Yeah, turned out fresh. Yeah, don't have a place to go with them, just turn them, turn them out, go to the doctor.

Fresh Calves And Hot Wire Reality

Luke Cortese 17:04

They branded them and and banded them, luckily, so they were slower, yeah, but um come right off the truck on a hot wire. Yep. And you know, unload five loads, yeah, and um better buckle up.

Carollann Romo 17:16

Yeah, I was gonna say, I'm I think I think there might be some some terms in there that are that that I might have to help with our listeners. So a hot wire is that hot fence, right? Yeah. Um and if they've never seen that, what's that like? Yeah, they just run through it or do you have to do that? Yeah, is that okay to talk about so right right now?

Luke Cortese 17:34

You know, since then we have the ranch and and let's say that we get a load of calves in. Um we there's six traps right here where we where we live, and I can turn calves out and I can open the gate and they're not gonna run through the fence. Um, a hot wire, a calf doesn't see it, and um, they come off the truck and they they've you know they've been on the truck for you know 12 hours, and um it's like that daylight, they wake up and they hit that wheat pasture ready to go somewhere. Yeah, and um, you know, you you gotta turn them and uh hold them up, and you know, uh we it's a joke we say that we're burning them in, you know. You gotta get them around and you take them around to the whole whole fence.

Taylor Lee 18:17

And um Joe would be yeah, nine years old, as fast as you could go, trying to get cattle turned in.

Luke Cortese 18:24

Yeah, turn them, yeah. So so it was me and um Taylor and Donna and and Jordan was yeah, probably 12 and Joe was nine. And uh there was a lot of days we unloaded cattle and uh we get about halfway done, you know, on the third truck, and we we'd have to tell the trick over, put your gate down a minute. We gotta get a hold to these because that you know they are running off.

Carollann Romo 18:47

They did not know what a hot wire was. Well, and that's a very interesting part that that maybe we haven't talked about on the podcast too. And even you said you said trap. And I a lot of our I think a lot of our listeners are truly ranchers. We hope it's not just ranchers, but that trap is just a smaller pasture, right? We're not trapping cattle.

Speaker 2 19:05

Yeah.

Carollann Romo 19:06

Um we uh just a smaller pasture that we that's called a trap that that you know you get them get them into the smaller area so that it's easier to move them the next day or or whatever, like you're saying, and they they have those fences. And normal fences are uh a barbed wire, right, with like three or four strands, right? Five five strands. Four or five strand barb wire that you can see or that cattle could see, but then when you move to the hot wire, is it just one little and really tiny it's not barbed wire, it's not that thick twig. Yeah, that even we wouldn't see necessarily if we were walking through and we weren't familiar, right?

Luke Cortese 19:41

Yep, right.

Carollann Romo 19:42

Um well I just always want to make sure and and uh try and do my best to define some of the terms. Not that I necessarily know, I need you guys to tell me.

Taylor Lee 19:50

But and one thing too, um, you know, God's opened all these doors for us, and um, you know coming from a a time when we didn't have the the ranch leased and all that, and and and that door was open to to come and lease it, we'd get these calves in. And every day, Luke is very intense, very like, this is how we're gonna do it, and it's the right way, and we're that's how it's gonna be. It might might not be the right way, but that's yeah, well, it is in my eyes. It's 100% the right way. But it um, yeah, so every every morning these calves, you know, we like Luke said, there's six traps. Every morning they get all pushed into water, they all get hand fed, um, they all get looked at. It ain't just oh, let's just cruise through them on a four-wheeler real quick and see if there's any sick. No, they're all gonna get, we're all gonna get a count. Um you know, when back at the the at the grow yard, it's easier, you know, they're at a bunk, you just, you know, um yeah, hand feed them and and have some good hay out for them. But it uh yeah, it's it's work every day to to start fresh calves like that. Yeah.

Carollann Romo 20:56

That attention to detail is something that I admire, right? That you're constantly looking to see if yeah if anything's wrong, and then even pushing them to water, right? That was something that uh we were talking about recently is that if you put them in a new pasture, the first thing you do is take them, show them the water. Because cattle are smart, yeah. But you gotta show them where the water is because they're not, you know, they're they're not all knowing.

What Makes Ranch Life Worth It

Speaker 2 21:19

Yeah.

Carollann Romo 21:20

Um well so oh here's a fun question. What um what's the most rewarding part of being in this industry?

Taylor Lee 21:29

Um, I think just the responsibility that um we take on every day. Um get to grow a product, you know, now that that we have we have a fall set of cows that have in the fall and then a spring set, and um, so we get to raise a baby calf and you know, go they stay with their mom, and then we go go to wheat when we wean them and then go to the feed feedlot with them. And so it's neat to to grow a product. Um start to finish. Yeah, start to finish. And um just the the the pressure is a good kind of pressure. But to have you know other people relying on you, the decisions you make, it's a good pressure and just the responsibility of having a product come to market.

Luke Cortese 22:42

I would think um being able to work with my family every day. Um you know through the good and the bad. Uh I can remember, you know, I I drove a truck for a lot of years and um I can remember having to go a thousand miles a day. Every day we held cattle, and uh you know, waking up and having to be away from my family. And not only that, being so tired you can't go anymore and have another thousand miles to go. And um, you know, I I know what I don't want to do. Or um and it isn't that I didn't enjoy that. Um it's just that um there was a time that my family needed me and um to be able to come home and and do it together and and watch my kids and my wife struggle and then get through them struggles together and and and work through it as a team, and um being with good people, uh waking up every morning doing what you love and and not having to work a day in your life. Um and and like another deal is uh people say, Well, well, how do you do it, right? Um we would do it for free. Like that's how much we enjoy it. Um uh as long as we break even, we're happy. And um or or we if we lose our butt, you know, we we look at the big picture and say, Okay, we lost it here, but we'll gain it here. Um Yeah, okay.

Donna Cortese 24:13

I like I like there's so many aspects of it. I like um like Taylor said, like being able to see like raising your own bulls, seeing them all the way through, and then them having and just carrying it on. And I think that we seeing life. Yeah, just seeing life, and I like it there's never a dull moment. Yeah, there's so many hats like we all wear from feeding, trucking to gathering, like it's never dull. And I like working with family and having Taylor and Kayla, and it's I like all of it.

Luke Cortese 24:49

It and so like Donna will go and feed, you know, and seeing her, um, she'll feed five or six hundred cows in a day. And um, you know, now with cell phones, you know, she she can pick up a cell phone and and FaceTime me, or like you know, Cavin heifers, and um we'll talk 10 or 15 or 20 times a day.

Donna Cortese 25:11

And um like the other day feeding, I could see one's about to calf. So we see you see it in the morning, then you go about your day, and then later on, like, yeah, look, I think you need to come over here, and so like we'll get done with the colour.

Tech Tools That Save Time

Luke Cortese 25:23

But working together as a as a team, um like there's a true partnership, you all work together as one. And um, you know, a family, a wife, husband and wife, uh and a partner's a lot like like your wife, um, and and everybody works together for the same goal. Um and like going and feeding and seeing new life every day. Or uh or going and and and whenever you wean or whenever you brand and you see that all of the hard work of the the product of everything being the same size, or like we're I I set goals that nobody even knows, but it's something that I strive for every day. And um, if it means something to you, you don't have to write it down, you know it. And um being able to to show up and brand and every single one of your calves being the same size, um having all of your cattle, your cows are in good shape, you turn your bulls out and and your cows get bred within you know a 60-day calvin period. And um, I mean being able to set a goal that that you can do and that you can reach and and short-term goals and long-term goals. Um, and and being able to do that together as a family, that's what makes me get up every single day and wanna wanna do it. Yep, yeah.

Carollann Romo 26:48

Absolutely. It's special and it's it's uh visible, yeah, right. We keep talking about that. It's a visible, you see the fruits of your labor. And yeah, uh, you sort of mentioned technology, and I was just curious, like you said, you can FaceTime and all that today in 2026. How much technology do you guys use?

Luke Cortese 27:06

So um we have cameras set up, and um, you know, that's one form um to see wildlife. I love love watching wildlife. Um, I love taking pictures of wildlife. Um, but also like let's say that there's a tank on the far back side of the ranch and it takes you two hours to get there, uh you could you could buy a a lot of there's a lot of things out there, or you can buy a camera that costs 10 bucks a month, and every 24 hours it takes a picture. And um, let's say it's in the summertime, you know you got greengrass and you don't really have a reason to be back there. Um, you know, just a wear and tear um cell phones are big. Uh having in kind of we all have like track to where we kind of know where each other is if something happens. Yeah. What else?

Kayla Lee 27:53

There's technology on the the scales for the feed truck. Yeah. And that's that's Bluetooth to Taylor's phone as we're loading different commodities into the feed truck. It's like live updating the the ration to meet what's whatever you know we've agreed on to feed that cattle the ration. And Taylor's got a drone. That's his Taylor's favorite new technology. Tell him about your drone for farming and for cattle.

Taylor Lee 28:19

Yeah, yeah. No, we've used it uh check water gaps, check tanks when it comes in and snows, and it's you can't even get down the roads because it blew blew drifts so big. Tell them about the calf that you knew that had an oil. Yeah, we had some cows that uh were calvin, and there was a cow that I knew she'd had a calf, but I drove and could not find this calf. And anyways, flew that drone out there and it has an infrared camera on it. And so we were able to find it and yeah, use it for that.

Speaker 2 28:45

Use it for cracklers.

Taylor Lee 28:47

Yeah, used it to go see check sprinklers, uh um, or like make sure you don't have cattle out at night, or whenever you do have cattle out at night, because that's inevitable. You know, you can at least make sure, hey, this ain't as big of a wreck as I thought, or no, we like everybody needs to be here, you know. So yeah, no, that's been fun. Yeah.

Luke Cortese 29:06

I think one of the biggest is um cell phones, videos, FaceTime.

Carollann Romo 29:11

Um Everybody's gotta have an iPhone. Yeah, gotta be able to FaceTime.

Donna Cortese 29:15

I can take a video of something and send it to Luke and be like, hey, what do you think?

Taylor Lee 29:18

Yeah, or and even uh Donna does all the bookkeeping, all the billing, all of that, and like just send pictures. Hey, is this right? Is this good to pay? Did we already pay this?

Drought, Wind, And Long-Term Planning

Luke Cortese 29:27

You know, like we're all on group techs together. Yeah, um, you know, we okay all of the bills that come in, you know, or for when we're paying leases, you know, we send a picture, hey, look this over, call me. Yeah, um, you know, if you're looking here to there, yeah. If you're looking at wheat, you know, we're like, hey, send me a video. Yeah, um, let's see if there's enough wheat there. Yeah. Uh being able to look at at a situation and be like, yep, we're in trouble, or nope, we we got another couple of weeks. Yeah.

Kayla Lee 29:55

If Taylor's gone, he's having me and the kids video the box to see how much beat's gone.

Luke Cortese 29:59

Oh, yeah.

Kayla Lee 29:59

Yeah, stuff like that.

Carollann Romo 30:01

Yeah, yeah. Another way the kids can be involved. Uh they do know how to use iPhones as much as we try not to, right?

Donna Cortese 30:07

My daughter's four.

Carollann Romo 30:10

Yeah, that's great. Yeah, yeah, that's that's really special. Uh, and and uh I'm grateful for a time where we have technology. I know sometimes it's the worst, but it's also the best, right? Technology. Uh how do New Mexico's landscapes and climate shape the way you ranch? I know you guys mentioned checking waters when it's hot and you mentioned snow.

Taylor Lee 30:30

So talk about the landscape. New Mexico weather will humble you very, very fast. Um, just uh yeah, droughts, wind, snow, um, it it makes it tough. And the the what how we run things, we're not just thinking about, hey, what do we got to do next week? You know, we're like, hey, this fall, are we gonna have room to run these? Or where are we gonna where are we gonna move the cows out for cabin and um or wheat, you know, some some years like last year is a great wheat year, and you know, it I mean, you couldn't keep the wheat from growing it. And this year it's a different story, and rained in three or four months, and the wind's been blowing 40, so um it's it's got its challenges for sure. Yeah.

Luke Cortese 31:15

So I th I think that uh New Mexico can you can hit there's highs and lows in the in the drought, and it seems like you go out of one drought into the next drought. And um, but we're our average rainfalls 13 or 14 inches. Um if it hits right, you can grow a lot of grass. If it doesn't, um yeah, time wise. Yep. We we choose, we do things a little different um because we run yeurlins or stalkers, uh and w we're in a bunch of uh different markets. We will uh try to stock a ranch like 60 percent, 50 percent, and then um at any time when it rains, we can stock it with urlins, and then we can be off the ranch during the growing season. So so let's say uh like for the just shoes this year for a scenario, um we uh it hasn't rained, so we're probably not gonna run any grass cattle until it does rain. And so we're able to spread our cattle out. Um we we can go through, say, a you know, a two-year drought. Um and then if it does rain, on the other hand, let's say like last year it started raining, um, we were able to wean our own calves and we ran them on here. And they, you know, we needed cattle for wheat, so they went on to wheat. Um we were able to wean all of the calves that go to wheat here. Uh we're able to run a set of urlins all summer on the ranch, and then not only that is that uh, you know, with the pens and everything that's set up here and and uh uh in Texaco, we're able to get a set of cattle in, sort them, and go back to wheat with them, sell the big end. Uh so you know, because of the way the landscape is or the way New Mexico is, it's created us to do all of this differently and see it differently. So um, you know, we are in a drought. Um we we still have plenty of grass, old grass from last year, because we saved it. Uh we try to rest a pasture or two, you know, every few years during the grows growing season, be completely out of it. And, you know, by by the end of the five years, you know, every pasture's been been uh hadn't had cattle in it, at least through two growing seasons. Um and and being able to look at things from a from a different perspective and being able to be diverse or uh, you know, like we have a set of older cows that are you know, they're getting thin, it hadn't rained. We've been feeding them a bunch. And uh we're gonna get them branded and probably wean the calves when they weigh 300 pounds. I can remember, you know, a long time ago when we were ranching and it was dry like in 2011 or 10, and you know, the cows weighed three or four hundred, and I said, let's wing them. And, you know, I was partners with my dad, and we were afraid to wean them. You know, today if it's dry, we're gonna wean them. Um we're gonna save our cows, we're gonna save the ranch. Um, there's a lot of people that see ranches a different way when they lease them, and uh they'll lease them, and the way they see it is that they want the cow on there as long as they can, and they want the calf on there as long as they can. So when it's all said and done, they've had two animals on this ranch for the whole year, and then they wean the calf and the cows start calving again, and it's only good for them, it isn't good for the ranch. Um, and and we do it the other way. When we show up, um we we want when we leave the ranch to be in better shape than we got there. We want when our neighbors look over the fence, they look and be like, How in the heck does he have so much grass? And then, like, how in the world did all of these cattle trucks come in here and then they're coming out of here, and he's still got more grass than we do. And I think it's all about timing. Yeah, and and you're every situation's unique, or you know, let's say it gets really, really bad. Um, we got a grow yard, we'll pull the cattle out, go to the grow yard. Um, like right now on wheat, um, we're completely off the wheat. Um, there the grow yard's full, and we're we're giving the wheat a drink to to where we'll have enough wheat to get our our heifers bred. Um, and and if before that we did we couldn't do it because we didn't have a grow yard, we didn't have a ranch, we didn't have all of these things, but but that all goes with the long goal is that you know we're thinking 24-7 of how to make it better. And how are we gonna outlast the guy that's trying to come in behind us, trying to lease a ranch out from underneath us? What is it that we can do better um that that gives us the edge to to where people want us to lease their ranch? You know, there's a lot of older people, most people that own ranches are are you know in their 60s and 70s, 80s, and um, you know, they are looking for someone to come in and that that will keep the heritage going. But not only that is that when they come and see, they can see all the progress of how good their ranch looks. Yep. Yep.

Taylor Lee 36:43

There was a lot of years that when we first started uh running cattle that you know, if we ran short on wheat or something like that, like we didn't have a place to come back or we'd have to send them to the feed yard or something, and it might not be the most ideal, um, depending on what the market is doing. And so there's a lot of times like we just had to had to, you know, take sell them. We just had to call someone and get them sold and um you know take our loss. Yeah, take our loss and move on to the next set. And so now, um, like I said, God's blessed us with a lot of opportunities and been able to grow, and it's almost like now we're getting more, you know, piece of the puzzle put together and uh just you know allows us to time times of you know, something that we always chase is just um gives you more opportunities. Yeah, but about uh good.

Kayla Lee 37:27

Oh, I was just gonna say, like, I think a priority for everybody is good stewardship.

Speaker 2 37:32

Yep.

Kayla Lee 37:33

Like we know that nothing is truly ours. It's been given to us by the Lord. And um especially with cattle and land, like you want to be good stewards of that. Yeah. And um, you know, healthy cattle, low-stress cattle do well, and we wanna we treat the animals well and treat the land well, and that pays back and is a blessing, and we do right by people. And like when we got the ranch, Luke, Luke had a list and Taylor had a list, and they went and hit the ground running like day one. It was massive improvements, documenting it all, graded all the roads, fixed all the water lines, fixed all the drinkers, fixed all the fences. Yeah, like and we didn't have to do that, you know. Like you didn't nobody was making you do that. You know, it was you know, this is something we were given and and trusted to have, and so there was gonna improve upon it and be good stewards of it.

Luke Cortese 38:31

I I think too, um it wasn't that the the ranch is in bad shape or anything, it's that our standard is yeah, is you want to take care of it, yes, is is high, or or that there's something you know, if I see something wrong in my mind, we're gonna fix it. Yeah and it ain't gonna go a day or it ain't gonna go a week or um but uh we had oh go ahead. What about you know the winners here most of the time are mild, but uh you know it can be bad. And um, you know, you have to go out and break ice every day for your cattle. Uh you have to, you know, if you if that takes riding a horse with an axe to get out there, uh you know, we have four-wheelers or or rangers. Um we might be running rangers and it's below temperatures. Uh, you know, we're gathering cattle in the in the storms, we're moving cattle. Um if if water lines get froze up and there's a dirt tank, you can bet your butt we're in the dirt tank breaking the ice so that they could have something to drink. Yeah. Um two things they have to have, three things drink, they have to drink, they have to eat, and they have to have air. And um, whatever that takes, you know, whether it's a 20-hour day or a two-hour day, we're gonna do our best to do that. But um there's there's some people from Oklahoma that have come to New Mexico and and they're building fence and um they're hard workers and good guys, um, but they don't know about the New Mexico wind. And uh, you know, it'll blow 30 miles an hour seven days a week. Um, there's another saying uh a guy told me I would ask him, when's it gonna rain? And he'd say when the wind would quit blowing. Well, when's the wind gonna quit blowing when it rains? And um, you know, we're in that pattern right now with the wind blowing every day, and uh they've showed up and boy, they come in and their faces are beat up from the sand and uh the New Mexico landscape or the the wind or the weather, and if if you ain't tough, it'll get you. Yeah, yeah.

Grazing Strategy Without Extra Fences

Carollann Romo 40:38

Absolutely. Well, and I I always get a lot of questions uh, especially when we go to um as other state beef councils, we meet together a lot to try and learn from each other and improve, and it's a really great resource. And a lot of people, I think, assume New Mexico, they picture the Wild West, they picture Arizona weather, they picture South Texas weather. Yeah. Well, New Mexico, I mean, we're at a higher elevation here, right? What's Fort Sumner at 4,060. Yeah, 4,000, and then and then I live in Albuquerque, our office there. We're you know the other mile-high city. Well, that means you call it a mild winter, but but it's not an Arizona winter, right? And it's not a it's a winter. Yeah, yeah. It's it's a true winter, right? You have days of you know, zero, you have many days below freezing, and like you said, that that um breaking ice and all of that. So I always want to clarify, and actually a lot of our listeners are from other states too, and so New Mexico has a true winter. We call it mild, but that's just because you're tougher than heck, right? Like that's because you've grown up and you have that. And and I I do love the sayings about the wind, and and we always say you just gotta be tough enough to deal with New Mexico wind to live here, right? Yeah. Um so no, it's it's really great to great to uh talk about. And I I did want to clarify that you call it mild, but it's it's a true winner, right?

Taylor Lee 42:00

And something else I want to add, um there is there's a science behind behind how you graze your ranch, you know, um, which you know probably not a lot of people know. Um, and Luke is very, very good at this, but where you put your mineral, where you feed your cows, like we got a spot that there's a creek that runs right through the middle of it. You could show up every day and feed only at the drinkers on one side and they'll never cross um the creek, you know. How you position your roads, yeah. Yep. And Luke's very, very good about it's essentially rotational grazing. How you enter the feed truck into the pasture, yeah, yeah, which will pull the cattle to that side, yeah. Where you start honking your corn at. Um, it's yeah, rotational grazing without running tons of fences through your place, you know. And so through these years that like right we're kind of right now where it's dry and um hadn't really grown much grass, you know, we're able to there's a science behind it, I guess is what I'm saying.

Luke Cortese 42:56

Um we had uh a blade and a loader worked for a month, you know, to get to where we could cross the creek and get to the backside. And um, and it wasn't, I mean, the roads were there was a few spots they were washed out, but now it's you know, we can really get back there fast. And and we can, you know, get around and make the cattle, you know, if if we just go one way all the time, they're gonna be waiting there at that spot entrance. You know, the cows are are gonna know they're gonna get fed there. And so if if you're able to go to where you come in through the the very back, it's gonna allow the cows to start working another spot. And there might, you know, there's grass knee high there. And um, yes, yep.

Taylor Lee 43:37

And you know, the the easiest thing to do and that is just hey, let's just pull in the gate and feed these cows and let's move on to the next thing. But it's gonna take more time, it's gonna take you know more work to do that. But um, yeah, Luke's real good about figuring out, hey, probably should move off this pasture soon. Hey, we got this extra grass, let's move here.

Luke Cortese 43:57

And and and like they there's products like blocks. Um, so so we might put protein blocks on one side of the pasture, which would hold them to that side of the pasture, molasses or um there's there's a lot of different products out there that you that you can use also to help utilize that. Yeah. And and knowing and seeing, and you know, being able to to you know, the what is it, the seven worst um words in agriculture is this is the way we always get it. Eight worst. And um, you know, being able to think. Think outside the box and and do different things. Yeah. I think that's one thing that we try to do. And then, you know, if it doesn't work, you go back to way it is, or um always adjusting. Yeah, you're always adjusting. You're very good at that. Yeah.

Kayla Lee 44:45

Like there's always a conversation. Honestly, like you said, it's 10, it's 10 calls a day. Yeah. And every conversation is retrospective, analyzing what you did, what worked, didn't work. Egos are checked at the door. Like they have zero ego. You know, they're just trying to grow and be better. And it takes a lot of like self-analysis to be wanting to grow and willing to grow in trial and error and change and pivot.

Carollann Romo 45:15

Yeah, and it takes a like a highly evolved human too to be able to understand that we have to think you have to think about, you know, 10 years down the road and yesterday and tomorrow and all of these things and be a range scientist, right? A lot of times uh, you know, you you assume we want to be a rancher because we want to be a cowboy. Well, you also got to be a ranged scientist. You also have to be a bookkeeper. You also have to do, you know, be a farmer and all this, and a grass farmer even, and all these things that that uh it's complicated. Um and the the the science of grazing and the science of all of that is is beyond my understanding. Um but what I do know is I did explain to um someone in Santa Fe, they didn't understand that um that you are reliant on a ranch in a in a grassland situation. You're reliant on natural rain and you're reliant on natural grasses that come in there in the soil, right? Uh and you guys have have both, right? You have the farming side and the wheat where you can water it probably on pivots, right? Just fan. And and then, but then you also have the ranching side. So it's it's all those complications and and all these things that we hope that consumers learn from from the podcast and that that uh the the best thing we can do is put the story out there, right? Yeah, and try and show how how complicated it is. And another sorry. No, that's good.

Taylor Lee 46:35

Another story that comes to mind too is um there so there's a little steer trap um up here by the by Luke's house. And um it it not a real big trap, but you know, we we utilized it a ton to to wean like little 200, 300 pound calves. And it it had grown up in uh weeds before we'd got here. And Luke's like, man, if we turn out when those weeds are coming in right before it starts raining, really knock those weeds down and um let that grass come back. Now that that little trap's beautiful. I mean, and and we hit it right. Luckily, it rained a bunch last year, you know. Um, but we're grazed all them weeds down and let the grass grow up in between.

Cattle Health Protocols And Daily Checks

Kayla Lee 47:11

And so just practices like that that I don't think people know, like it ain't just like you just unload your truck and then, you know, check water a few times a week and there's yeah, there's but into like on the farming side, you know, your profiles, your depths, your rainfall, your there's a lot of agronomy involved, and yeah, it's not just I think to the lay person who's not in the ag world, it just seems like people are counting podunk people and they just put their stuff out, but there's so much science involved in all of it, and so much strategic planning and analysis, and it's it's very involved and very complicated and very you have to be strategic. You can't be passive with it.

unknown 47:56

Yeah.

Carollann Romo 47:57

Absolutely strategic and scientific, and yeah, absolutely. I'm I'm ever impressed and ever grateful that there's people willing to do that, right? Because because it's hard, right? Um so maybe talk about the cattle. You guys have already talked a little bit, but just specifically, ways that that you take care of your cattle to ensure their health and well-being. People love to know that we care about our cows, right?

Luke Cortese 48:19

So our cattle get checked um every other day. Uh one of the the things that we do, um we feel that you know we've seen we're using a live virus vaccine has helped when you wean. Um it just gives you more protection. Um so when we got here, we put all of the cows on a live virus. Um what we feed, when we feed, how we feed. Uh it's it's our job, you know, if if we don't have to doctor a calf because of the vaccines we're using, um, or or less likely when we wean them that we're gonna have to doctor a calf and uh being able to do that. I think uh another big thing that that we do is uh being able to turn our cattle out on on uh in traps or you know, in smaller pastures that we can look at them. Um we can we can group cattle, uh knowing when to doctor and when to let one ride. Uh you know, that is the the hardest thing someone will ever learn is that, and we're still learning, it ain't that we know it all. Um, but what works for us, uh, we'll be getting cattle in, and um it might be that that we got to give them you know seven days before we start doctoring, or or being able to go in and be like, that calf is tired and has been through a ringer and he isn't sick. And there is a difference, and being able to see the difference. And um, you know, or showing up and maybe there's there's two calves that died, or you know, urinza you got in, or or stalkers, whatever you want to call them, and they they died, and not at that moment being like a bazooka with the medicine and just go and doctor everything and and being able to see that and um you know doctoring only the sick ones, and uh, you know, having a vaccine program, having a mineral program, having a feed program, having our waters cleaned, um, that's a big deal. We we uh, you know, if a if a tank gets empty, we're gonna shovel it out and clean it. Uh if there's moss in the tank, we're gonna when we feed and we're waiting on cows to show up, we're gonna be shoveling the moss out. Uh you know, utilizing um water lines and tanks that are already there, digging dirt tanks, you know, or cleaning out dirt tanks so they'll hold or uh but you know, the main thing is the care and looking after and and seeing something wrong and fixing it. Or or not being too proud to not call somebody, you know, um Ryan McCollum is is our vet, and um, you know, getting in a in something and you be not being too proud and be like, hey, I don't know what's going on, but you know, and and him being Johnny on the spot or you know, calling calling you back, or you know, a lot of people uh you if you if you leave Ryan a message, he's gonna call you back. And and just like when he shows up to your house out of respect, he's not on the phone, he's talking to you. Yeah. So when you leave him a message that night, if it's important, you know, he'll text you maybe or or that night he'll call you back and being able to go through, you know, issues, have you know, have an event like that, yeah, pretty much on staff kind of. Yeah.

Taylor Lee 51:45

Um any questions you got, he's got a he'll read his studies, you know, where he went to school at and studies that they did. He'll pull out all of his old notes and whatever it takes, you know. Um and something else, um, you know, being in in back at the grow yard where we start calves, um, you know, we have shared drinkers, so they're stainless steel drinkers, you know, they get they get cleaned, especially with fresh calves. You know, we try to get through once a week and um they're sharing, you know, uh fences with each other. So, you know, we get cattle in all the time. And um, yeah, knowing set setting a uh protocol, knowing when to re back, not revacking early, not revacking late, uh shoveling bunk, shoveling bunks. Um, we we kind of start them all out, like limit feeding them them calves just to keep them hungry where they're coming to the bank to the bunk, knowing that they're getting the medicated pellets, getting good alfalfa hay.

Kayla Lee 52:40

Um being fed at the same time.

Taylor Lee 52:43

Yeah, not overfed, not overfed, feeding the same time every day, um, yeah, feeding twice a day.

Luke Cortese 52:49

Yeah, stuff like that. Seven days a week. Like yeah, yeah. Um, there's been people that called and and asked that they wanted a grow yard. I'm like, be careful what you wish for, because that's seven days a week, no vacation. Um let's say that that you're gonna go and do something like this podcast. Taylor had to get up at four this morning and feed everything, and then be ready at daylight if he sees something wrong, been able to put the you know, putting in that time, yeah.

Taylor Lee 53:17

And that that's where the the unknown of you know your margin on your calf really can go one way or another. Because it's not if but when you're gonna have a load come in that you're like, well, that was not very common. And then there's some you get in, you're like, that was too easy. And you think you're the best in the world, yeah.

Luke Cortese 53:36

Yeah, yeah. And so I think um break it breaking um cattle into smaller groups when you're getting them in, um, and hand feeding them, where uh you're going out there and you're walking through them and seeing the ones that's coming in slow and remembering that one to where the next time you can evaluate, you know, looking at your cattle twice a day whenever you're uh straightening them out.

Donna Cortese 54:06

Yeah. When I'm feeding, I keep a I have a book and I'll write notes on each one, like tag number 724, so and such and such, or doesn't look right today, or and then the next time I go back, like I'll know and be like, okay, that's that was no surprises. Yeah.

Luke Cortese 54:22

Uh we do run tag numbers. I mean, and that is uh uh for a couple things, it has our name and a brand and a phone number. Um for one that you can look at it and and write down the number. Another, if one gets out, they can know who whose it is and call you. Yeah. I do think that that's another big thing. And I mean when you get right down to it, it's cheap in the big scheme of things. Uh yeah, uh not being too proud that you know you think that you're not a cowboy because you have tags or you know, there's uh there's a lot of things that I think um that that we do like that because um I mean for one, you know, when you're not smart like me, you know, you need all the help you can get, you know, or uh being able to to write write and and and get down notes or uh when we started the the grow yard um with Taylor, we at least a yard and we talked and uh one of the things was uh limit feeding. And um a lot of people take limit feeding in different ways, but this is the way I'll explain that we limit feed and and why we do it uh is that when when you feed, you're you're saying, okay, there's a a pen of 50, and they're gonna eat let's just say they weigh 500 pounds, and and let's say that that you want to feed them 3%. So you're gonna feed them 15 pounds, okay, but you're weaning them, and so you want to keep them hungry and you want them coming to the bunk to come eat. So we might start by like seven pounds. Yeah. And and then you go by the bunk and you look and they haven't ate nothing. So or or they're not hitting it hard. So you might do that a day or two, and then here in a minute, they're gonna get hungry and they're coming to the bunk. And and if you fed 15 pounds and you go up there and you look at the bunk, you're gonna do a lot of shoveling. And every day that you go over there, to do it right, you're gonna have to shovel up all that extra feed. But but the way we do it, it's a guess of how much you think they're gonna eat. And then once you get that dialed in, okay, they ate, let's say, best case scenario, you feed them 10 pounds, they come the next day, the bunk slick. Okay, so so then you're like, okay, they ate 10 pounds, these cattle are are ready to go. So you might feed them 11 pounds and you go and you feed them. And um, but the the whole goal is when the feed truck comes by, they're getting up coming to the feed. And the ones that aren't, there's something wrong. So, and then the ones up there at the line, most of the time ain't the sick ones. And if you only ran your operation to where you you did that when you're getting cattle in, and you doctored or only paid attention to the last group that come in, and you wrote down them numbers, and every day you kept a tab on what numbers, and eventually you've seen if they went up or down, and that would tell you all you needed to know. And then you would know when to doctor them, when what you know, what to doctor them with, and uh, or or like let's say that I'm driving back and forth to the feed yard and I'm driving and everything's eaten. So every morning when me and Taylor talk, I'm like, okay, what did this pen eat? What did this pen eat? Or you know, he's telling me, hey, pin one ain't good, pen two, pen four, they're not really eating that much. I'd be like, okay, how long have they been there? You know, so we've gone through that. Yeah, and uh then I can tell you can tell exactly what kind of wreck you're about to get in by what people are eating or not eating. Yeah.

Taylor Lee 58:00

And well, I mean, we've seen it, you know, firsthand, like show up, there's feeding the bunk that there shouldn't be, and you're like, they just backed way off. You're like, we better hold on a second, you know, or like times that we thought, oh, these are 40 days wean, we're ready to go to wheat, and they're fixing the break really hard, you know.

Luke Cortese 58:18

Um but you can see that whenever as you're feeding, yeah. And yeah, and being able to know that or adjust. I mean, that's one of the major things that we use for like health on cattle. Yeah. Of in doing what I mean, buying the right cattle. Yeah, yeah, that's a big deal. The cattle's only as good as the guy you buy it from. Yeah, and another saying, um, there's no new way to screw somebody or take advantage of someone. You it's not like you come up with this new, so you're buying cattle from someone, um, they're supposed to be working them, uh mass treating them, you know, because you're getting a bunch in, so you're just having them do it on that end, and you get a set of cattle in, and day two, cattle are dying, and you've had 20 loads in before that, and day eight is the day you start doctoring. There's no new way to not give a set of cattle medicine to make the cattle cheaper. And learn, don't get mad, don't try to teach them, just be like, that didn't work, and then just move over and find somebody. There is people out there that want your business. There's people out there that want to do a good job. There's new, no new way to, you know, buy a set of number ones and then them cheapen them up by sending 15 one and a halves. And then then you get on the phone arguing the difference between a number one and a one and a half with someone that that they're the cattle seller that sees 500,000 ahead a year, and they're they're sitting here arguing with, but in the end, you caught them trying to take advantage of you. Yeah, but just doing business with the right people, that's another huge thing to success in health, in what we do in our life. Um, our word means as much as a person that we buy it from. Yeah. What's a what's a one versus a one and a half? It would be like the quality of the calf, like a number one um, you know, like a one and a half would have more ear, be more Brahmer influence, or um, you know, everybody wants the best Angus or uh a black baldy or uh, you know, maybe how much leather they got hanging off. Uh you know, and there's a there's like a number one oaky, uh, you know, it just depends on where you're at. You know, if you're gonna buy cattle in South Texas, they're all gonna have a little bit of Bramer influence, all gonna have a little ear, all gonna have, you know, a little, but but you buy a number one and they show up with floppy-eared, quarter-eared Brangus, and you send them a video, and they're telling you that that's uh South Texas number one, you know, and you're like, no, that one's 40 cents or 50 cents cheaper than this one. Um, y'all guys said that this is a cop. Tell me what it is, and that's what we're gonna buy, right? Right. We're buying what you're explaining, and then when they get here, there's something else.

Carollann Romo 1:00:55

But yep, okay. That's what I've I figured I just want to make sure. And then and then we talk about Bramer and all that too. So that's your breeds, right?

Luke Cortese 1:01:02

We love to talk about cattle braids and uh and not that bringers aren't good cattle, or that yeah, just different just the way the world is is that they've marketed Angus, and everybody wants, you know, because of marketing. And marketing is a huge it's all marketing. Yeah, and um, you know, the somebody in the Angus Association, or a lot of people, there's been a lot of money put in marketing, there's been a lot of money put in genetics, and um you know, there's number one Brangus too. Um I don't want um we've made uh one of the best things that I've heard too is um there's two types of cattle cattle that make money and cattle that lose money. Yeah, and that um you know don't be too proud to have a set of cattle that ain't the best looking ones in the world, yeah. Um if they're gonna make money. Yep.

Taylor Lee 1:01:56

Absolutely. And also, um, you know, sometimes I don't think maybe people see like how many hands go into raising a good um quality cattle, you know. Um, you know, it's people at one-stop feed, clovis fat supply, mesa feed. They're supplying us with the right medicine, the right vaccines, um, the right medicated feed, making sure our our liquid mixes are the same that we we add into the ration. Um, all these people, they have to do their job. Feed trucks bring them fuel. Yeah, fuel. Um, we gotta mechanics working on road graders, um, loaders, feed truck, feed truck, yeah, whatever it is.

Luke Cortese 1:02:32

The the the shops in town keeping all of our flats going. Yeah, tires, trailers, yeah.

Kayla Lee 1:02:38

Um a lot of handset goes.

Luke Cortese 1:02:39

Yeah, yeah, to let us do what we do. This might be a little bit off keep, but um in today's world, people love seeing people fill. And and they love jumping on that. Yeah. And and they love it whenever you're down, they love walking up, just kicking you right in the teeth. And um, we choose to do the other. And and not that that we haven't been part of that or that we've caught ourselves. Um, but when someone else does does good, we want to see them um do good. Uh and a lot of the people that work for us and help us are are people that have been down. And um the you're only as good as the people that work for you. Yeah. Uh like I have a cousin that um had back surgery and he couldn't work, but I knew he he needed to get out and do something, right? And so I I called him and I said, What is it gonna take for you to come work two hours a day? And um, that was one of the best decisions we made. Yeah, and for him to be able to, like he's a full-blown mechanic. Yeah, and I just told him you work till you can't work no more and go home. If that's four hours a day, two hours a day, one hour a day. But when he shows up, he's thought all night on what he's gonna do. He shows up and he does it, and when he's tired, he goes home. He doesn't cost a thousand dollars a week because he only works four hours a day. Yeah, and and um being able to see the value in people too, and then being able to help him and being able to to like um you know, show them Jesus and show them love and um being uh appreciative and making them their worth their self-worth climb the ladder. And um everybody that uh that works for us, that's one of the key goals is that you know, and we can turn this into like healthy cattle, is that when they show up and their self-worth is higher, they're gonna do that extra mile to help us. And um, you know, having that personal conversation with them every day, or when you see them, and being like, hey, how how's your weekend? Uh you know, how how are you doing? And like, or being like, hey, uh, there's there's a kid building fence and he's tying staves in that's super uh special to me, um, has a spot in my heart and always will. Uh but uh stopping and having that true conversation with them that no one else gives them. Yeah, and be like, hey, how are you? How was your night? Be like, oh, well, how do you show me how you're doing this? You know, and be like, and then seeing one thing that they're doing good and be like, good job. And and be like, I appreciate you here. I'm glad that you're a part of this. Thank you. And and and that guy or person or or wife or kid are gonna work ten times harder and and they're gonna call you whenever they see something or they're on their way home, and they're like, there's a calf, a cow with the two legs hanging out, and I don't think she's ever, you know, and then being like, okay, most people just drive on by and be like, that's their that's not my problem. That's the difference.

Taylor Lee 1:05:54

Yep. We live in a world that um like appreciation and just telling someone good job, you know, like hey, I appreciate you being here. Thank you for you, and and ultimately you believe in them and you give them something to believe in um that they want to work for you.

Carollann Romo 1:06:08

Yeah, so that that equity in human relationships is is yeah, it's huge. It's so important. I'm I'm not perfect at all, but if anything, I I strive to be better and want to be investing in humans, absolutely. And and caring about those and and taking care of others and and in in a you know turn back around of You do that and then it works better for you, right? Like, you know, you get you get more with honey, right? And and not that you should do it selfishly, but you can because you will get more out of it.

Luke Cortese 1:06:42

And something like when there is a problem, heading the problem off and having that tough conversation. Yeah. But you don't have to be mad. You don't have to tear someone down. Um, this is one thing that we're we're really working on. And sitting down and like having, hey, uh, this is what you're doing, and and it's not working. This is what we're expecting of you. We want you to, we we appreciate you here, we like what you're doing. But but every time you're seeing that, being able to stop, adjust, and go again, and not like turning your head, you know, and going the other way, and then having to be so mad before you go talk to them, and and then that never ends, right? Um, but I think we're all a work in progress. Yeah, absolutely right.

Carollann Romo 1:07:29

We all learned from each other.

Luke Cortese 1:07:30

Yeah, Gavin.

Markets, Hedging, And Price Risk

Carollann Romo 1:07:31

Yeah, the only the only person I'm I'm good at uh fixing things with is my husband, and I think that's called arguing, but yeah, I don't know. Right, yeah or fighting. I don't I don't think everybody else enjoys that part of our relationship, but um that's great. No, I love that investment in people. Um tell me about a time where you made a sacrifice or overcame a challenge.

Taylor Lee 1:07:53

I feel like every day we make sacrifices. I mean, if we got to do stuff in Clothus, Luke's up at three or four, Luke and Donna's up, they're coming to Clothus. The next the literally the next day, we're doing stuff here, so we're gonna come this direction. Um, yeah, I mean, we're literally from seven days a week from the sun up to but after the sun. Yeah, before the sun comes up, after the sun goes down. Um, and don't get me wrong, there are days that that we don't have to to do that, you know, um, or pick and choose what we do. But I mean, it's even the days that you're at night, you're inside. I mean, it's you're looking at where we could be better. What's the next move?

Kayla Lee 1:08:32

Philly's got our spreadsheets out and he's yeah.

Donna Cortese 1:08:34

It's gonna say then you're doing paperwork on a good spreadsheet, yeah.

Taylor Lee 1:08:39

And I and I think too, um, like the markets that we're in right now are just just insane. I mean, it's great that the cattle market's priced the way it is, but we're also in a time that um the the something that can drive the market doesn't even have to be a fundamental issue with the cattle market. Supply and demand is still there, um, but something gets said or there's potential world lore or whatever it is, and you wake up and four days in a row, the boards limit down. And it's like that's really scary. We're spending, like Luke said, uh, you know, triple the amount of investment that we were three years ago to make the same margin. We're not making more money, um, these high-priced calves, which is great for cow calf. And um, that's why we've tried to diversify and shoot, we buy old cows, calve them out, um, wean the calves, yeah, feed feed old kill cows. I mean, we just try to be in a little bit of everything, but um, yeah, I think day to day it's just uh get knowing where to be at and where to go.

Luke Cortese 1:09:37

And um so uh one of I'd like to visit about some sacrifice. So so my kids rodeo and they rope. Um, and and I wanted to talk a little about just recently uh sacrifice. So we work all day, and let's say that we want to rope, we got to work harder during the day so that we can rope. Um we have lights, so we might have to rope at night and get home late at night. Uh just recently uh we went to Oklahoma City and to Guthrie. Huge youth roping, probably the biggest in the world. Uh we worked all week, you know, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday. We Wednesday we get done at four. Everybody, we have uh three feet pickups running all day long, and at four o'clock we get home. Uh Joe, my son's 15. He's got the all of his saddles loaded, trailer bedded, all of his stuff loaded. We get in here, we start loading, we leave at uh four. We get to uh Oklahoma City at midnight. We finally find our stalls, we get everything, we find a spot to park. Uh we're up at 7, ready to go. So we're up at 6, getting ready at 7. We're out on the trailer. Joe ropes all day long. And uh they probably had 600 teams that day. It started that morning. Uh, and at 8 o'clock that night, Joe was the 11th callback uh out of 320 teams in this particular rope. Joe ropes the steer by two feet, slips a leg, don't win no money. So we we load up that night at 8 o'clock, pack up, get all of our horses, we go to Guthrie an hour down the road or 40 minutes. Uh we unpack. It's midnight by the time we eat, get everything done. Um we rope all day. Get up at six o'clock. Get up at six. All day we rope. Uh Joe was 21st callback, ropes the steer by two feet, loses a feet for money. Uh 500 plus teams. Uh at eight o'clock that night, we load up and we drive all night home. Um, we get home Saturday morning at about 4:30. We we lay in bed. At 7 o'clock in the morning, we're out feeding, two feet trucks running. Uh we let Joe sleep in because he had prom. At about 10 o'clock, we get Joe up. Joe feeds all of the horses. Joe works, does all the stuff. Um, Joe goes to prom, but it never misses a beat. Uh, a lot of people, you know, they don't have to work on Wednesday or you know, they don't have to be rushed back or after five o'clock. Yeah, or after five o'clock. Okay, another thing, we have a trucking company. Um, we dispatch cattle trucks 24-7. I'm on call. And it's been like this for 20 years. Long. Everyone. Yeah. And uh when the phone rings at two in the morning, we answer it. Uh, you know, if if there's a problem, we take care of it. Uh it doesn't matter where we're at on vacation. Um, if we're in this podcast and this phone rings, I'm gonna answer it. She said let me teach it or or you know a sacrifice that we made is um, but we said that that's what we're gonna do. This is the lifestyle that we want to live. I um I want my kids to be successful. I want them to have the opportunity to to rope. I want them to know what hard work is. I want them to know um when you set goals and that you can reach them, and and that that they love what what we do as much as we do. And uh people ask, well, why do y'all do all that? It's like reality sets in every day at my house. It's uh the reality that my kids want to be successful in roping, or you know, that we want to uh grow in our ranching. Um we want to drive new pickups. I want to be able to, if my son says that he wants to be a welder, that I'm able to help him and um you know, help him with his dreams or work or or a friend gets knocked down and needs help that I could show up and help him. Yeah.

Kayla Lee 1:13:49

How about you breaking those ribs? Yeah. Was that a good challenge to overcome?

Luke Cortese 1:13:55

A couple of years ago, uh, we were getting cattle in and um We're gathering them from the city. We were yeah, we're gathering them, and uh this horse had about two or three rides on him, and I've I was loping, and there was a Charlotte calf that got up out of nowhere and he bucked me off, and I broke some ribs. And uh and about uh two hours later, I still couldn't catch my breath. And uh I stood up after he bucked me off, and Donna said I fell back down. And so she comes out there, and uh if I could have had the words to say call a helicopter, we would have called a helicopter, but I didn't have nowhere to stay. And uh so she takes me into town, they do x-rays, and uh I had a big old nod on the back.

Donna Cortese 1:14:44

It's a small town, so they had to send the x-rays off.

Luke Cortese 1:14:47

So so they said, We'll call you tomorrow. But my advice to you is to stay at home. Okay. So the next morning we were testing bullshit tailor sham. And a bull turned around and I told him, I said, All I can do is ride a horse. So I had a uh wrap around me and as tight as I could get it, used a bucket, a bucket to get on, and a bull flipped the horse on top of me, broke some more ribs, and black my eye and fat my lip. Oh no, and so right after that, the doctor called and said, Mr. Cortesi, yep, and he said, Uh, my advice to you is to stay in home. Big day for you is gonna be to get up and sit on the couch. And I said, Yes, sir. And he said, Do not do anything. All right, so we get off the phone and he didn't know about the second rack. No, so there's a third one. So about a about three or four days later, I got the horse stepped on a rattlesnake and bucked me off and broke every rib on this side. And I would breathe, and you could hear him crackling, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack, crack. And so Donna was mad because or you know, frustrated because I was out working, but um, we had we were getting cattle in ready for wheat, and we had every trap full. And um I I told her, I said, come out here. I said, Do you see any vehicles pulling in here and trailers and people to help us? She said, No. And I said, This is our livelihood, this is all we got. Um, it doesn't matter what happens, you you're gonna have to get up every day. And um, I guarantee you, you want to know what you got. Break every rib on your left side and get up and go gather six traps and have a thousand fresh South Texas calves that you got a dog 40 a day. And um, you know, it got to where uh, you know, I it was all I could do to get the cattle gathered, and I would pull the six out, and the boys would doctor Taylor come and help us, and we would sort them, or you know, then we used to shoot. But uh that was about all I had to get that done. It wasn't fun.

Carollann Romo 1:16:54

That's a sacrifice for sure. Yeah, yeah, that's that's quite a challenge. Um I uh well, I guess kind of an another challenging question, which uh I guess we're going too negative in a row, sorry. Um, but get some good stories out of the last one. What uh what's one of the biggest challenges you face in your operation?

Taylor Lee 1:17:14

That's a whole kind of um I would say going back to markets, having the right having enough capital to to grow, but not grow too fast to where you're over-leveraged. Um like we're in a time now that five weights are costing 27, 2800 bucks or whatever it is. You can't mess up and be okay, you know. And um, it's not we, you know, we don't get a paycheck every Friday or every two weeks. Um that comes a few times a year, you know.

Luke Cortese 1:17:46

Um yeah, it's it uh so so let's say that you do buy a $2,800 five-weight and you're having to put a pasture bill or uh your typical feed bills or whatever it is, and and that calf shows to lose $200 a head if you're gonna feed them or depending on what. Uh so what what people are having to do now, because if you're gonna have a fruit basket, you're gonna have fruit in it, that's what they think. So so they're not doing any market strategic plan. I mean, that's so so they're not no protection. Okay, and the reason why is because they show to lose $200 a head. So so they're betting on a cum.

unknown 1:18:36

Yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:18:36

And we've done this. Oh, yeah. And and uh and I'm we're dumb enough, we'll probably do it again because we're in the cattle business. But the so you go and you you buy this animal, you do not zero protection, and you're betting that the market's gonna rally to get you out of this wreck that you're in price-wise. And um all you are is opening yourself up to lose a thousand or fifteen hundred dollars ahead because um just like it went up, it can go down too. Yeah, um, there's there is so much risk right now. Used to uh if if you kept your death loss down and cattle gained and and you watched your Ps and Q's, you can make it. Today, with the way this market moves, it can be devastating. And and it can move $40 in two months or a month just over what one person says, and and you be sitting there and and be in a good position, and then it blows way under your profit margins, and $40 on an $800-pounder is $320 a head.

unknown 1:19:47

Yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:19:48

On a calf that you only figured you're gonna make $100 a head, and or uh the board moves eight dollars in one day. Yeah, that's $56 a head. Yeah, you you do that three days, you're at $150, and you this is on a cat that you're only planning on making a hundred dollars on, or you're buying cattle and starting, and the market starts climbing and and there's so many ways, or you're trying you um there's a lot of strategies that you can go out there, um, hedging strategies, yeah, LRPs. Um, but even then uh an LRP is 22 cents, yeah.

Taylor Lee 1:20:25

Yeah, they're getting or or to to get a true uh uh uh hedge or or uh yeah, we trade options, sell futures, buy LRP. We try to diversify all of our risk management that we can, but also you can get into a point where um you might over-protect and you don't want to be hedged up a hundred percent. And um yeah, it's just things you gotta think about every day.

Carollann Romo 1:20:50

But LRP is livestock risk protection, right? Like an insurance you're guaranteeing you get this price.

Luke Cortese 1:20:57

Yeah, right. Well, it is basically all you're doing is saying, okay, the market's up, we'll use simple meth, the market's up four dollars. I I have bought my cattle with profit in them at four dollars, and I don't want to risk it, and I want to buy my position, so you're just buying a position in at four dollars, and then when the market goes down, they pay you, and you get less when you sell your cattle. When it goes up, you're paying them. So, and then when you sell your cattle, you're getting it, you're getting it back, but you're just breaking even on the four dollar market. Yeah, but there's so many other little things that you can risk on the up, you can risk on the down. Yeah, uh you can protect a block. Yep. And um Taylor does all of the risk management and is very, very intelligent on it.

Labor Shortages And The Banking Side

Taylor Lee 1:21:45

And this might be a conversation for another day, but um it so that LRP is based off the index, the cash price. That's something else where we're at in New Mexico. Um that index could that price doesn't necessarily reflect what an 800-pound steer in New Mexico is gonna bring. Um, it's a group of cell barns that come together and say, hey, over this week, this is what 800-pound steers brought. Like I said, conversate conversation for a different day. But I think at some point there needs to be an index for the southern states, um, just because what's trading up in North Dakota and South Dakota, Montana, all of that, um, isn't necessarily what they're bringing down here. Um, so we trade off this index with LRP, but if that that index can also change $8 a day. So this whole time you're thinking we're you're getting two weeks out. Well, if cash prices go out the roof in up north, and now all of a sudden the the cash price is out of your LRP range, you're not gonna take advantage of what that should have paid, and you still gotta bring your cap to market here, you know.

Luke Cortese 1:22:56

Or here or what the one year we it was during Christmas or or what? Yeah, and it traded though. And and they only they'll there was only just a few sales or not very many hid. Yeah. And and we were supposed to get paid, and it changed how many dollars? It like a significant amount. Yeah, and so so we bought the premium, we did all of that, and then you get to the end, and we're like, what do you think we're gonna get? And then you know, we hit that. Um, but I I think also what a big thing is uh labor. The the the if you look at why we're not bigger than we are, right? Why is it it's it's because of labor. Um you know why why do we do what we do? It's because of labor. Why is it that when when we ship, it might just be um me and Taylor or me and Donna and Taylor or or uh why is it that that we use dogs to work cattle? Um it's because we can't get help. And uh, you know, when when when you have a dog and your dog does wrong, you can put him in the pickup. When you have a helper that you're paying $200 a day and they do wrong, you can't be like, hey, go sit in the pickup. Yeah, you know still pay them. Yeah, and you still gotta pay him. Yeah. We were shipping a brown field, and uh, this is kind of when the dogs started, right? Um and and it was for labor. So uh we we shipped, and the cattle had been in this wheat field for four months, and we no longer unloaded, and they had ran like five through the fence, they had cattle roped, and we're like shipping. This is our payday, and and they're like sitting there rope dragging, and I'm like at a gallon. I'm like, Well, what about the other 160? You rope 20, you know, and and I get home and I just I told Don, I was like, man, there's got to be an easier way.

Donna Cortese 1:24:53

For us, the less the better.

Luke Cortese 1:24:55

It's just like us, it works so much better. Yeah, we can get anything pin we need to. But but it's nothing for for um me and Taylor to go and pen five loads and two dogs, yeah, take them to the feed yard, sort them, turn out four more loads, and be done in three hours or you know, not very long. Or uh it be our shipping day and have three people and two dogs and and go in and get them shipped and uh cattle walk in the pen or no problem. But and not to say that that we don't have issues and that there's some cattle or uh but but one of the biggest challenges I think is is labor and and getting people, especially as high as it's getting, you know. Uh if let's say $20 an hour, yeah, you know, uh that's $160 a day to $200 a day. And it doesn't take very many days like that, all of your profits gone. Yeah. Small profit margins, the higher cattle get, the higher the risk gets, and the shorter the profit margin. Uh another deal is is uh you know, banking, you know, having a banker that believes in you, uh having a banker that's willing to loan you the money on they have regulations, right? Just like everybody, but but believe they don't have to loan you the money, but believing in you, uh getting you through the wrecks of bad times to get to the good times, um going in there and selling a dream and them okaying it, having enough equity, uh working, uh you know knowing what to go to the bank with. You know, and that's one thing Taylor, you know, with his background, uh, we talk a lot and uh we send things back and forth, or knowing how to read your your tax, your stuff, you know, hey, it shows we lost this much money. What does that really mean? Well, let me dissect your um tax form and be like, no, y'all, you know, when you put all this together, it paints a picture, and this is a picture. And but not knowing that and going to a banker and and not being able to talk through that, and you know, that's that's a big deal, especially in today's markets. Yeah, you know, you you run it doesn't take very many cattle to to get into big numbers that that are life-changing. Yeah, that if something goes wrong. Yeah, yeah.

Carollann Romo 1:27:28

Yeah, I was I was thinking of that as you guys were talking about it. We we talk about the thin margins, and sometimes people see ranchers or farmers have this big life, but you don't understand that the big life comes with a big debt and big and and tiny margins, right? The profit on top of that, and so um that willingness and that courage to go and get a loan for millions of dollars sometimes, right? That's crazy, right? And it's it takes like you said, it takes skill, it takes time, also takes some some courage and some trust, you know, trust in your family, trust in your partners, trust in God, all of the things that that is ever impressive to me that that uh that it takes that that people don't understand that you you gotta just take the risk, right? If you want the lifestyle, you have to take those those first risks. And sometimes that's walking into a bank. Yeah, yeah, absolutely.

Kayla Lee 1:28:22

And being why is like putting your money back in. Like that's something we've tried to really do is you know, when we get a check, it goes back. And gets invested back in and trying to like really build things too.

Growth Dreams And New Revenue Streams

Luke Cortese 1:28:37

And and you know, when you're starting, you know, everybody's trying to work and build their spot in the world. And you know, and you're having kids, and uh it is so hard to to find the time and to to do it all and uh and and you see somebody that's say 50 or 60 or 40s and that they've put all their time in and uh you know you don't see that they didn't take a day off for 20 years. Yeah. And then, you know, uh to get the equity where you want to be. Or uh, you know, now you know we're able to leave and and go do something, you know, because we we're we want to enjoy our kids, but you know, there's 25 years of equity that we never spent. You know, Donna Donna drove uh uh an old wore-out pickup crown victory that had 200,000 miles on and drove back and forth to Clovis and uh an 01 Ford that we put 350,000 miles on and you know that we I never even we didn't have a pickup. My pickup was a semi that I was gone in for 20 years or you know, and then same way in the cattle business, you know, you work and you equity's a huge deal. Yeah you work, you know, the kids or or the younger generation that are wanting to start like equity, don't just show up at your doorstep. You gotta go earn it and get it and work. Yeah, it's gotta be something um that that you worked for. Yeah.

Carollann Romo 1:30:15

Yeah. What's something you're excited about in your operation right now? What's something that excites you? I think you guys have probably already talked about some things that you can tell are exciting, but what would you say?

Taylor Lee 1:30:27

Just the the future growth of Cortesian Lee. Um we the last few years we started uh breeding heifers. Um that's super exciting to um you know get them in a condition ready to breed and breeding them. And um we've kept bulls back from our cows. Um there's just a lot of a lot of uh yeah, fun times. Yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:30:52

I think uh being so diverse and and being able to hit a bunch of different markets and do a bunch of different things. Uh you know, for a lot of years, you know dreamed and worked and then dreams coming true. Uh a funny story, the when when we leased this ranch, uh we showed up and talked to him and we leave. I tell Donald, there's no way. And uh about a week later, you know, after we talked to him, he said uh he calls me and says, I'm gonna lease you my ranch. So that was like a dream come true. There's one thing that that I always wanted. Um I not that my family didn't have ranches, but the only way that I see that we're ever gonna get a ranch is we're we're either gonna have to lease one or go buy one ourselves. And and that's a dream that's that's been ours for a long time. But uh it was such a a drain that whenever we moved here, we were here for about four or five months, and we still didn't have furniture in the house, and we had a little bitty card table and a lawn lawn chair. And a lawn chair, and uh we had Amazon beds that we ordered, and man, they couldn't sleep. And and Donna says, uh, look. I said yeah, and she said, We uh I think this is for real. This isn't a dream no more. Can can I go buy uh furniture? And I said, Yeah, I think so. She said, uh, they're not gonna take it away. And so uh, you know, every morning I get up, I I I wake up in a dream every day, and it's something uh there's a lot of nights that I'm so excited about the next day that I have a hard time going to sleep. And like I am so pumped to get up and do what we love to do. Yeah, and and I always tell people is that one thing that you can always say is that he got up every day and did what he loved to do. I mean, there's things, there's things every day that maybe not be as fun as others, but but I love it. Right. Um being able to, you know, we we've raised bulls and watch them grow, uh leasing some bulls out now, uh helping other people. Uh we feel like we got a really nice set of commercial cows. Uh watching that breeding program. Yeah. Uh weaning the weaning our own calves. Weaning our own calves and uh being able to see our own calves on grass and on wheat. Uh another beef.

Donna Cortese 1:33:42

Eat our own beef.

Luke Cortese 1:33:43

Eat our own beef, grow our own beef. Another thing that was super pumped. Uh we we had like a misfortune in the market, and we had a set of heifers uh that were on wheat that we weren't gonna be able to get out of. We're gonna lose a bunch of money. So we kept them and kept them, and and the market would drop seven dollars, and the guy we were trying to sell them to would would drop 20 cents, and uh so we we we kept them and kept them, and I mean this market kept going down, and the cattle were LRP'd. So on the way down, we're getting paid and we're holding on, and uh we end up feeding them, and uh that we get paid on our LRP, and that was at the bottom of the trough, and the market started working it's back way back up. But every day after we didn't sell the cattle, the guy that we're selling to would call, like laugh, I bet you wish you'd have sold them. And you know, we just keep our head down and keep working. But um, it was a very exciting time whenever we knew that we had cattle on feed in a feed yard, and that it was more exciting whenever the cattle were sold as fat cattle, and uh or we could go to the feed yard, drive around, and you know, it was like we made it, you know. We're we're here with, you know, we're not supposed to be able to do this, or you know, we have three pins of cattle here, or you know, uh, which isn't a lot, but it was plenty for us. Yeah. And knowing that we helped feed the world with with our product, uh uh, you know, taking videos and pictures and and and it ain't that we bragged or said anything. Between us, we were proud, and it was like a moment of of being excited. Yeah.

Taylor Lee 1:35:25

Well, just it had taken these years coming working together to find it takes a lot of capital to have have equity in your cattle at the feed yard, that you know, now you're another nine six, seven, eight months out on getting paid for that um, you know, we're not gonna finance our our cattle in the feed yard. And so to get to that point where, hey, we can sit back, have our have the money in the cattle there, be able to continue buying fresh calves coming in, trade cows, stuff like that, and just be able to expand. And um so yeah, so one thing too.

Luke Cortese 1:36:01

Uh so we have a set of fall covers and we have a set of spring covers. And uh our our fall fall covers we run bulls on, spring covers we run bulls on. So we're able to have our bulls turned out six months out of the year. And um, we're able to double use our bulls to where they're not just in one deal. So, you know, one of the if you look in your initial costs of running a ranch, one of them's bulls, especially you know, ten or twelve thousand dollars a bull. So let's say that we can cut your bull cost in half, right? So now it only costs 5,000 because now you can breed um 600 cows twice. Okay, and so so then then let's look at another dill. So so because we don't have 1,200 cows, right? So but but we have fall and spring, we can have more bulls, and and we can tighten our cabbing period because when a cow comes in heat, you know, there's more bulls there to breed them, but then we can also get a uh money coming in from leasing bulls. And so, you know, so now our bull cost is cut in half, plus we're getting outside money to the ranch for leasing bulls to uh another ranch. Yep. And uh another deal is that we hit two markets. So our fall covers hit a market or spring covers hit a market? We hit two kill cow markets. So so whenever all of our open cows, they're gonna hit two markets. Um it's one of the things that I'm most excited about is that that you look at our operation. Um, you know, Taylor has a farm, right? He has the grow yard, he grows a lot of the feed. Um, we're we're very, very, very uh diverse. Uh there's there's some we we have a trucking company. Uh we buy and sell hay, we buy and sell cattle. Uh we have order buyers in five or six cell barns that we're buying cattle for people and selling at certain times of the year, and then we kind of have our spot or or guy set up for when we need cattle that we're not fighting as much. Or uh Taylor has a custom farming to where you know he's able to have nicer tractors because he can keep them busy more times during the year. Uh he's able now that you know, as we're getting better now to say that the price of grain is or silage is lower, so he knows that we can feed that product through our cows and make and make more money. Yep.

Taylor Lee 1:38:43

And like I said before, just having more pieces to this puzzle that we've been trying to build for 10 years now, and um just excited to see what comes of that and where it's headed. Contacts, yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:38:55

People, you know, uh knowing that it's dry in Arizona and knowing that they're selling cows in Arizona without pregnant them because they're so weak. And so we'll buy cows in Arizona for you know kill cast kill cow price. We get them in, they'll be like very, very weak. Nurse them barely get them along. Uh once they're stout enough to go down the chute, preg them, 40% of them be uh bred, tag them. They're wilder than wild. Put them cut their horns off, put them behind a hot wire in the pins and turn them out. Have dogs, people, uh we we can manage them now. The the cows that we kill, they break even, and then we're able to get into a cow that's gonna have a calf for $1,500 when everyone else is paying $3,000. Yeah. You know, um, but knowing that and seeing that, uh, and you know, everywhere in the world, it doesn't matter where you're at, there's a drop somewhere where they're selling cattle, or there's a misfortune somewhere. But but being out there looking, and uh if uh if you're spending all day with your head down staring at your phone, everything's just gonna go right on by you around. Uh being able to to look and pay attention and and see and ask questions and and learn from from people, the uh finding somebody knowledgeable and asking and and just sitting there watching. Yeah.

Kids, Teaching, And Learning By Failure

Carollann Romo 1:40:27

Yeah, I was gonna say the the realized dream is is uh anybody can feel that, how much that means, right? That you guys are are getting to see your dreams um and that no one can take that away. That's like that makes that gives me goosebumps, right? How cool is that that you've given given yourself that, given your family that. That's really special. Um and the and the connections and the network are so important, right? Like you said, not everybody wants to see you succeed, but some do. And those ones you can learn from, and those ones you can emulate. Um, I love that. So, what's your favorite part of the work for day-to-day? What's what's like one one favorite? And it could be just a current favorite too.

Donna Cortese 1:41:08

Yeah, currently, I like being outside and seeing all the babies. Yeah, that's my favorite right now. Absolutely.

Taylor Lee 1:41:17

I like that no two days a week are the same, you know, about like the noon. Yeah, yeah, you don't know. You you might be working on a raid grader one day. We're gonna be uh weaning her fall calves and branding our spring calves soon, getting fresh cattle in. Um, but I think the dependency, like I said earlier, the responsibility of like Luke, trust me enough, has faith in me to know um, like, hey, he you know, he's gonna make the right decisions. And I believe in what he's gonna do. I think that's really important.

Kayla Lee 1:41:51

Yeah, every day's fun. Fish taking the kids along now. They're old enough, they're with us every single day.

Taylor Lee 1:41:57

Yeah, they get to be a part of it.

Kayla Lee 1:41:58

Our son loves to work. He'll he's two and he'll just say, work, work, like he loves first words work, yeah. And like Luke and Donna definitely championed like us being family-oriented, and like when we decided to stay home and be a stay-at-home mom with the kids, like they really valued that and like poured into us over that and always encourage us to bring the kids, even though it's hard sometimes with the toddlers as much as we can be out there, like they want us out there, and we definitely feel that and feel that it's genuine and um that mentorship is awesome, and like I can't wait for them to pour all the things that they poured into us, into the kids, you know, and like excited about the future, but just taking them along and just joining in on Taylor, whatever every single day is different, like he said. So it's like, but just getting to tag along and and that's a lot of fun.

Carollann Romo 1:42:53

And isn't that like parenthood in general? It's harder when they're there, but it's better. Yeah, it is. Yeah, my kid wanted to help me scrub a toilet yesterday, and I'm like, I don't want to do this, you don't want to do this. But instead, I was like, okay, I'll turn on some music, let's just have some fun. And she thought it was the coolest thing ever. And I'm like, I hate this, but suddenly I have this new perspective. Of course, uh uh taking them along ranching is different than than uh my my toilet scrubbing, but still just just including your kid in things is yeah, and they love it. Yeah, they want it's worth it.

Kayla Lee 1:43:25

Yeah, they don't need to be entertained, they can just join in on absolutely what you're doing.

Luke Cortese 1:43:31

Taking the extra time of teaching. Yeah. No, um we've we've spent didn't take the time, you know, and and we're going and going and going, and but stepping back and and being like, okay, let's teach them. Right? Let's let's when when we show back up and the you know Jordan's wanting to weld, so so it's my job to teach him. You know, I've shown, but let me show you, this is how you do it. But now being like, okay, now let me teach you. There's there's a big difference, or they're taking that's one thing that we've always tried to do is is be like, okay, why did the cattle do this? Right? Okay, what can we do different to make them not do that? And and and being able to to change and knowing when to change or how to change, or or be like, okay, the cattle beat you going around the end of the truck and they rent. That's what caused this. Okay, what are you gonna do next time?

Speaker 2 1:44:28

Yeah, right?

Luke Cortese 1:44:29

Do we need to switch and put someone else up there that ain't gonna let them run by you? You know, by them, or do it is a four-wheeler need to be there, you know. What do we need to do? Um, but but every opp every opportunity is a chance to teach. Right? Yeah, absolutely. Um and and it's through your failures that you learn the most.

Carollann Romo 1:44:49

And letting them, like trusting them to fail.

Wrecks, Hard Lessons, And Humor

Luke Cortese 1:44:51

I mean, you've got to fail. I mean, that's the only way. And learning from others failing. So so one thing that I always tell my kids is is that uh you can go out and go find and try to do something else, and you're gonna have to fail, and it's gonna cost you a lot of money. And and you're gonna have to sit there and and find your spot, or you can do what we do, and we can learn from all of our failures, and everyone else that we've seen fail. And uh, and we can the the the education that we have is is uh I can tell people every day what to do or how we did it or or what and but the education that we learned, I know why we don't do certain things, right? Yeah, and and I can tell someone all day long, but until they've lived it, they don't know it. But but being able to to to look across the fence and being like, oh wow, that didn't work, you know, and then putting it in your mind and and adjusting your operation to that too. That's a different uh I didn't go to college, I barely got out of high school, but one thing that I I was always willing to learn and ask questions and find somebody to mentor me or they might not have even known they were mentoring me, but I was watching them and I found someone that was successful that I thought was successful, and I paid attention to what they did, and I just tried to do a tenth of what they did or or one percent, and then just kept working and uh you know find being able to to know that that's what like that's being humble on that. You have to ask the question, find somebody and be like, hey, what why did you do that? Yeah, or uh a lot of people won't say much, but but um sometimes those are the ones that listen the hardest to, right?

Carollann Romo 1:46:37

Yeah, yeah. Sometimes.

Speaker 2 1:46:38

Yeah.

Carollann Romo 1:46:39

Uh that that mentorship is a special part of uh the industry as well. I don't think you get that everywhere, right? You don't always get that. And I worked at a bank, I worked at an ag bank for a while. Some you've got great mentors, but then sometimes there's not the same mentorship that you can have in in uh ranching and cattle industry.

Luke Cortese 1:46:56

Okay, so you've already told a couple stories, um, but do you have any favorite story that you wanted to tell before we were shipping cattle one time uh right outside of Portalis and me and Taylor and Donna, and I was on Donna's butt. Cattle weren't pinning right, and we were having heck, and um, I had been chewing her out.

Donna Cortese 1:47:21

It was all my fault.

Luke Cortese 1:47:22

Yeah, she couldn't do nothing right. She finally had enough, and she gets right up in my face. And anybody that knows Donna knows that she doesn't cuss or doesn't do anything and sweet, and she had her middle finger out and told me she was done. We were on our own, and she goes and sits in the pickup, and Taylor, where this was me and Taylor just kind of started. And uh he said, now what are we gonna do? I said, Well, I guess we're gonna have to figure out how to get Donna back out here. I'm gonna have to apologize so we can get these cattle pinned, but there's been a lot of days uh working kettle that I've had to learn how to say I'm sorry. If I wanted to do it on my own, uh it was gonna have to learn how to talk to being.

Speaker 2 1:48:10

Yeah.

Taylor Lee 1:48:11

Yeah.

Speaker 2 1:48:12

Yeah.

Taylor Lee 1:48:13

Another story, kind of same thing turning cattle out, and is whenever we didn't have a place to, you know, bring them in before get them hot wire broken. And allegedly they were supposed to be hot wire broke coming over. Um, so I I don't know how many loads we turned out of the day, eight loads, or I mean it was crazy. And we uh turned out, and it was one of them mornings that nothing really like you know, flat on the wheel corrals, um, trucks weren't there on time, couldn't didn't want to load in the truck, you know, all just whatever. Trucks were late. And um anyway, so we turn out on one field, get them, you know, it when they come 12 hours on the truck, it's like you know, they come off the truck like they were asleep and they just woke up and they're ready to go somewhere. And um, so it took us a minute, kind of got them calmed down, and we're like, all right, well, let's move the next field. And so we go to the next field and get them turned out, and it's just a wreck. We split cattle split. We're we got other people helping us, and it's just all we can do to like manage, you know. And next thing I know, I look up and down the road, we turned out about, I don't know, a mile kind of off in a in a draw, and I see the cattle we had just turned out trotting up the road, coming straight at us, and I'm like, this is about to be a long day. And we had cattle mixing with other people's, and it but not that that was fun, you know, but it's I do love to see like how much growth that we've had, how much smarter we are about when we turn cattle out, um, just everything that we've learned and like looking back now, like that was a it seemed like that was something really stressful. Um, but now it's like we we know to uh just like that's part of it, you know. We're gonna figure it out and um laugh about it, just get around them and start over whatever you gotta do and just finish the job.

Luke Cortese 1:50:02

And uh we had we had kettle turned out, I think it was on the same deal, and and they had got away from us and got mixed in with the neighbor. Yeah. And the neighbor was Sergeant Wheat Cattle turnout man. And out of all of the people to mix cattle in, his wasn't the one.

Speaker 2 1:50:22

And uh Uncle's cattle.

Luke Cortese 1:50:25

We finally he shows up and he chews us all out and makes us feel about two inches tall. We finally talk him into letting him let us come back tomorrow and get him. I mean, by that time it is the moment of the afternoon. So we come back the next morning, and he stood up on a hill with his binoculars and watched us get the cattle out and chewed Donna out on how dumb we were and we didn't know anything. But uh the same farmer, we had uh steer in on him, and uh they never called and uh or on us, no we oh yanked his and we had to go get him and he was aggravated and we actually had to pay him a pasture bill on the one head on the one head, and uh me and Taylor talked, and I said, you know, we can show him you know how it's supposed to be done. So later on, I said, because in ranching that stuff happens, yeah, and in ranching, so it wasn't long a couple of years or a year later, he had cattle on us, and we went and got them out and put them back. Taylor did and helped him. You know, we fixed a fence and you know, it wasn't a big deal. Yeah. But in in agriculture, there's things that that there's a a guy used to tell me a a list is or a yeah, a list is a is a plan or a list of things that are gonna go wrong.

Speaker 2 1:51:51

Yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:51:51

And and you just have to learn how to maneuver through it and and figure it out. Yep.

unknown 1:51:58

Yep.

Carollann Romo 1:51:59

Absolutely. And and uh treat people how you wish to be treated, right? That's again back to that kindness and another another time.

Luke Cortese 1:52:07

We were right outside of Portalis, and and we had five trucks come in, and we were unloading them, and the the group just kept getting a little bigger and a little bigger, and they were fresh and hadn't seen a hot wire. And about the time that fifth truck unloaded, the cow we couldn't hold them, and they ran off.

Donna Cortese 1:52:28

And Joe's horse.

Luke Cortese 1:52:29

Joe's horse was in the water, and the water was hot and bucked him off.

Donna Cortese 1:52:34

The hot wire was in the water, so when his horse got a drink, and it shocked her, and he she jumped in the water, bucked him off.

Luke Cortese 1:52:43

Almost ran Donna over.

Donna Cortese 1:52:45

Yeah, I was at the pickup or aways from the pickup, and she was just like running blind. Um came straight towards me, so I had to run. The cattle were running off.

Faith, Negotiation, And Life Advice

Luke Cortese 1:52:55

At four o'clock, these cattle the truck showed up at seven, and at four o'clock that afternoon, we finally had all 450 head like circled, and they were so tired they laid down and they're like, What are we gonna do? I said, Well, come back in the morning, and we we come back the next morning, and there was seven head in that pasture. And I'm like, we just fed every person in Vertalis. We're there is no way we're gonna get all these cattle, and they went like 20 miles apart of them, did but every day for like the next month we drove around and we went through people's yards. We found them all. Well, we found every single one of them, and uh it was that was a pretty wild time right there.

Carollann Romo 1:53:42

Learning experience, yeah. Anything that could go wrong did go wrong. Yeah. Uh what's the best piece of advice you've ever received?

Taylor Lee 1:53:56

I don't know. Luke tells me every day, just put your head down and work. And I think there's a lot, um, you know, ultimately, um, you know, give your life to Christ. That's the most important decision you could ever make. Um and and have trust that that God's gonna take care of you. And every morning, Luke, we're in a group text, and Luke sends a verse. And I I really do think starting your morning every day in the Word like that, um, being thankful for him sending the Son to die on the cross for us, um, and knowing that, like Kayla said earlier, that none of this was um is ours to to you know have, and it's a gift given. And starting your day off like that, and then like Luke said, just put your head down and work every day. You don't have to be something do something crazy. You don't have to worry about what everybody else is doing. Um don't worry about what other people say about you, just just work hard, you know.

Kayla Lee 1:54:47

Yeah, die to self, yeah, and yeah, be humble and just work hard, have fun, enjoy life. That's what I love about this group too, is everybody's laughing every day, having fun and truly enjoying life. Like, even during the hard times, like we're really, you know, enjoying um what we're doing and each other and just making light of every situation. And like I love the Teddy Roosevelt quote about you know the man in the arena. If you haven't read that one, you've got to. But I know that like definitely when I was going to quit my salary job and Taylor's quitting his salary job, loan officer, like in walking away from that to like go and all in on this. Like, I know there was critics. A few people said some wild things to me that just like really made me laugh. But and then there's just too, you can feel that like, are sure like this is what you're gonna do. Yeah, but like it's the man in the arena who counts, not the critic in the stance. And um, you know, at best you triumph greatly, or at least you if you miss, like at least you dare to do something instead of knowing neither success nor defeat, you know, to truly just be the doer, go out and do the things, go all in and believe in something and believe in each other.

Luke Cortese 1:56:07

But yeah, I think this the the life that we're here is temporary. You know, gee Jesus is forever. Yeah, forever and um we're all able to do this because of him. Yeah there's a a guy when I was younger, he his name was Alan Joe Killow, he had a ranch. I was very successful, he ran cattle in the feet, yard and one of the things that he told me that always stuck to me was um buy when people are selling and sell when people are buying. Yeah, and I was a little I was young, and still to this day what we do a lot of times have to do with that. And and getting into that, let's say that the the markets crashed, right? Let's say the market dropped from 370 to 320 or $3, and there's no end inside every day it's going down. People are gonna get scared and start selling. And about the time everybody's selling, that's when you get in and start buying.

Speaker 2 1:57:05

Yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:57:05

And and and you don't be afraid. And then then when when it's up and everybody's buying, that's when you sell to them. And uh it took me a long time to figure that out and still hadn't figured it out. But uh, you know, since then I've talked to some some guys that run a lot of cattle, and and they they've said uh we'll let this market shake up a little bit and we'll get in and and and really get in.

Taylor Lee 1:57:34

But it takes growth too to get to that where you have the money, like yeah, and maturity, yeah.

Luke Cortese 1:57:38

You never know what you're gonna do until like one you're you're really financially strepped, and you know, you don't have no money to risk, and uh people be like, why did he do that? Well, come come come live a life with us every day and you'll see. Yeah, you never know what you're what you're gonna do until you get in certain situations. But uh another thing that that I think being able to see a profit in something when you buy it, and um only buy things with the profit in it, and that goes from anything that you do. So you're buying cows, you're buying calves, you're buying a new pickup or a horse or uh a road grade or a loader, uh anything that you buy going in, you buy your profit in the front side and um knowing that, and and not only buying, but knowing the difference. You sit in the cell barn and a set of calves come in there, you know the second they come in if there's profit or not, and and knowing and and being able to step out and buy them. Uh another piece of advice uh make money while you're sleeping, and and make sure that it's you have people that are set in place that are making you money, or you have cows that when you sleep, they're having babies and they're making you money. Uh, and and that you're not the one, the only way you're making money is you're out there killing yourself, you know, like you know, driving a truck, or you're the one in the tractor every day, all day, and and you know, figure out a job or something that you can do that's gonna make you money when you sleep. And then uh one thing that we always talk about is uh everything's negotiable. And uh and it ain't that we're tacky, it ain't that we're um we're hard on people or anything, but every single thing is negotiable from your insurance to your fuel to braces. To braces. I got a braces story. So my my son Joe, uh it was time for him to get braces, and uh they show up and and they said like sixty eight hundred dollars for a set of braces. And so I told Donna, I said, Um, call up there and ask them how much uh that we'll just pay for them up front. So she calls, and of course, um the lady was rude and said no, and and so she comes back and Donna's like, they this is stupid, they won't, and I said, You're talking to the wrong person. Call back up there, tell them we got cash, and and what will they do? Because everyone else goes on on a payment program or or whatever it is, and um you tell them we got 5,500 cash instead of 6,800, and uh so she did, and they said, We've never had this happen. I said, Well, you've never dealt with Luke Cortez, and so uh they got her on the phone with the right person and they did it, but even down to the braces are negotiable. Um, everything. Yeah, right, hey, hey, freight feed.

Carollann Romo 2:00:50

Um your orthodontist listening is panicking. Nobody knows that. Nobody knows how much it's $1,500 I swear.

Luke Cortese 2:00:58

Or like um, I mean, everybody's gonna make a living, but there's a difference when when you're able, and it wasn't that I had the money cash, and it we probably had to use borrowed money, but but in the end it saved us $1,300. And and on them on the other side, they were able to get everything up front. Save them dealing with insurance, and they didn't have to deal, and and they had cash money in their hand that they could go and maybe they went on a vacation, or or you know, there was something in his mind that he could spend $5,500 on. Um, and and the way I looked at it is that that was in two phone calls in 10 minutes, we made $1,300.

Kayla Lee 2:01:35

And it was good by you and them, yes, and like that's how y'all are with the the wheat leases or whatever. Like you're always trying to do right by the yourselves and the farmer or whatever.

Luke Cortese 2:01:46

And and like don't ever get yourself in a position where you have to sell or you have to buy. And and we might have a barn empty and a farmer's getting to the end of the year and he's got to clean his barn out. And he calls me, he knows to call me, and he calls us, and we might buy all the bottom bells, and and we feed them, and they feed just as good as them middle bells. Or we we he gets into a set of hay that might might have got hot and tobacco brown, and I know that that will feed as good as any, yeah. And and it might not look the prettiest, but we'll feed it, and it's 40 bucks a ton cheaper or 100 bucks a ton cheaper, and that's where you make your money. And if you do that every day, and being able to see it um every day, you gotta be able to will and deal and yeah, yeah, always be able be willing to deal for sure. You you can never go broke making a profit. Yeah, that's another thing, is that um don't don't have too much pride not to sell or or know, you know. Yep, if if there's a profit in it, somebody's offering, it might be time to take your profit and put it in something else.

Speaker 2 2:03:00

Yep.

Carollann Romo 2:03:01

All all great advice. Um, what's something people might not know about you guys outside of ranching? That's kind of a silly one we snuck in there, but what's what's something else about you guys?

Taylor Lee 2:03:15

So um for me, I guess this is kind of to deal with that, but um, like I didn't grow up around cattle, like at all. I I just grew up farming and um yeah, so I there's opportunities for somebody that wants to work hard. Like if you want to get into to raising cattle, um, there's opportunities you've got to work hard, find the right mentors like Luke. Everything I know about cattle comes from Luke mentoring me. And yeah, and um, like even as far as uh like how to watch a cow, how to ride a horse ride, how to rope, how to setting yourself up in the best positions to get one roped and drag in a trailer, um, and how where to be at in a branding pen, like all that I owe to Luke, I never, never knew any of that. And um so you know, some people that I talk to now um, you know, just think that that's what I've grew up doing, but it's not. Um so I think it's something that um hopefully encourages people that you know you don't have to you don't have to be the smartest person in the room all the time. You just need to listen to what people have to say and and truly respect what um the mistakes, like Luke said, what other people have made and learn from them. Yeah.

Recovery, Family, And A New Start

Kayla Lee 2:04:26

Um humility, seek out mentorship, like yeah, even in your faith, like seek out people who've walked longer in that journey than you have, and and like actually have somebody disciple you, and then you disciple other people and um ask questions, like that's that's so big. People are if you will ask questions and seek out that, there are so many people that are willing to help. My hobbies are opening the roping chute.

Donna Cortese 2:04:54

Yeah, that's what I do in my videoing.

Carollann Romo 2:04:58

Hopefully, they got you a clicker at least now in the roping chute in a fashion way. That's okay.

Luke Cortese 2:05:04

Donna Donna was an Orion and spent a lot of years working on that.

Donna Cortese 2:05:09

Yeah.

Luke Cortese 2:05:10

She worked in the surgical floor.

Donna Cortese 2:05:14

It was it was to the point where we uh we were either gonna have to hire somebody or we just quit and start doing paperwork and for the trucking part of it, so quit. I'm glad we did. We don't wanted to work together.

Luke Cortese 2:05:27

So the I don't know how long ago, but our lives were flipped completely upside down um in Donna and were as low as you could get. Like we had lots of issues going on, and uh, you know, we gave our lives to the Lord truly, and uh woke up every day on our hands and knees, and uh God uh God showed up, huh? I had uh horrible drug habit and um had about a thousand dollars a week I'd spend on drugs and as far apart as you could be, me and Donna. And uh had spent many days awake and in a wreck. And uh that morning I got up and gave my life to the Lord, and he's put everything back together since that day. And uh me and Donna moved in with her mom, and we lived with her mom in a uh in a house and and we didn't have Marianne then, and uh we lived in a little bitty bedroom, and me and Donna and Jordan and Joe all lived together in this little room, and that's what put our life back together. You know, we we both focused on the Lord. Um, we both uh we went to church, we uh we never gave up anything worth working for is gonna be tough. Uh I mean there was a lot of rough days, and a lot of days, and a lot of people kicked me when I was down and did everything they possibly could to destroy us, and um God's tougher, and God had a different plan for us. And um, but when if you're down or you're you're having a hard time or things ain't going your way, I've been there. Um, there's a lot of people that have been there. Most people ain't humble enough to share their story or too proud to say, hey, um, but uh I've been there, done that, not proud of it, but um, I am proud where God has brought me and my family. And uh, you know, for us to come from that to where we're at today is uh huge. And um being able to keep following God and keep going through doors that you see get opened, and uh just every day's a a good day, and every part every part of this adventure now we do together, and and Donna quit uh the I had come home and you know Donna said she was gone, you know, she was had all she wanted, so I quit doing drugs and quit partying and quit drinking, and uh I about a week later I said you need to quit your job. And she said, What? And I said, Yeah, I said, uh, you the only way this is gonna work is you're gonna have to, she's like, You mean to tell me that um a week ago you quit doing drugs for one week and you come home and I'm gonna quit? And I said, Yeah, that's it. That's what God told me. You're gonna quit your job, and this is what we're gonna do. And um, you know, we had Marianne, and I knew it was a girl the second that Donna said she's pregnant, and I knew she's gonna have blonde hair. God showed me curly curly hair. Um, but putting your trust in the Lord and knowing that it's gonna be all right, and then like having that peace, even when the whole world's fallen and caving down around you. Um, God's greater than He can move any mountain. Um I should have had uh withdraws like you wouldn't imagine. Um, and uh I got down on my hands and knees and God got me through every bit of it. God put our marriage back together, put our family back together, put um the trucking together, the cattle together, uh this friendship together. Um the the ranch that we got leased. Um my mother-in-law is the sweetest lady you ever seen. She was there through the whole thing, loved us. Um, you know, for someone to tell you that they loved you, that's a big deal. Yeah, and um, and a lot of people say it but really mean it. And um every day, like she told us, you know, I love you, Luke. And I mean it meant a lot to me. And uh but I tell people that they've prayed, and then um I've lived with my mother-in-law for six or eight years, and uh you know, I knew that that God's plan with us was for us to have a ranch, and uh you ain't never prayed till till you had to do that. And and me and my mother-in-law never had a bad word, never, she's the most awesome lady you could ever imagine, but uh to to be able to go through all of that, and uh that's a lot of people, nobody knows that. Like um, but if most people are too busy to listen, you know, and um don't you think?

Donna Cortese 2:10:41

Yeah, exactly.

Carollann Romo 2:10:44

Well, it's pretty yeah, and and so special that even means even more hearing that that you've realized this dream, right? That you guys are living this and and building this and and mentoring another couple to do it, and uh that's really special and and uh a very long and hard road to walk, right? Oh yeah. Um well I appreciate you sharing it for the podcast. Um what's uh so why do you do what you do? What makes you keep going?

Taylor Lee 2:11:16

Um I I think just um man, being able to to bring a product to market that that people are gonna enjoy, you know, and get to get to work with my hands every day, um, get to learn from loot, get to learn from our mistakes, um just get to deal with tons of different people all over the country, whether it's buying cattle, buying feed, um, whatever. Um yeah, I just I love getting to work. Honestly, I love working. Like, I don't ever feel like I never wake up in the morning and be like, man, I don't really want to do this day. And you know, don't get me wrong, there's times that like, you know, things don't go your way or whatever, but I never have to wake up like dreading what I'm gonna have to do that day. You know, it's always exciting. We're always on we're always on to the next thing. Um yeah, I just I love it. Enjoy it. Yeah, enjoy it. Yeah.

Donna Cortese 2:12:15

I like I like just working with our family, working together with our fri the partnership with our friends and with with our kids and husband and yeah, that's what I like.

What We Want Beef Buyers To Know

Luke Cortese 2:12:26

Yeah, I think the never uh not failing. You know what drives you to do what you do. Every morning get up and not fail. I hate failure. Um I love a challenge. Um every morning you get up, you're gonna be challenged. Um there's a lot of things that you don't have in your control that's gonna make you fail, that's gonna make you stronger. You know, you might have a heifer cabin that there ain't no way you're gonna get the calf out, but the heifer makes it, or um every day it's something different.

Speaker 2 2:13:01

Yeah.

Luke Cortese 2:13:02

Doing what we love to do every day.

Carollann Romo 2:13:07

And that that love for it is it is just kind of in you, right? Even if it's just in you. For sure. Like you said, you didn't have to grow up in it necessarily, but it's it's it's in you now. Yeah. Um that's pretty special. Um, is there anything, any kind of last thing that you'd like people to better understand about the beef industry? If you were talking to a consumer, they're listening from we've got actually a consistent listener from Germany. We have consistent listeners from Phoenix and um Dallas. Uh, I think I've seen some Chicago. So if they're sitting there and they don't know a thing about the beef industry, what's what's one more thing that you hope they know?

Taylor Lee 2:13:45

Just all the hard work that goes in to raisin. Uh, you know, when they buy that that hamburger meat at the grocery store, um, there's been so many people from start to finish on uh yeah involved in that. And it it doesn't matter how big of an operation you are, how big of an operation you're not, um man, it doesn't matter if it's blowing 80 miles an hour, snowing, whatever, they're out there, they're pulling cabs, they're breaking ice, um, they don't take vacations, they don't get off at five o'clock. The amount of work that um people put into making this their livelihood, like I don't think people really understand how much work and dedication that is. And um, yeah, it's everything to everybody, you know.

Kayla Lee 2:14:30

So yeah, and you're not just supporting the American rancher when you buy beef, you're supporting the truck drivers, the dispatchers, the the vets, the feed supply, like the tiger store, the tire store, the mechanics, like and that's honestly probably scratching the surface. Like, there's truly the so much and so many people that you know help that product along.

Taylor Lee 2:14:53

Yeah.

Kayla Lee 2:14:55

Exactly.

Carollann Romo 2:14:58

Is there anything else you want to add to what what you hope consumers know?

Luke Cortese 2:15:03

I think that that there's a lot of people that go out and work and give it their all and it's their life, and it's a sink or swim. And uh there's been a lot of years or a lot of times that you know we had cattle and misfortune hit, and and we still gave it a hundred percent, even though we were losing money. And and knew knew that this group of cattle is gonna kick our butt, and that we were gonna have to work for free for a year to to get through it. But we didn't give up. And that um ranchers have a bottom. I mean, or you know, they they don't give up, they have no bottom. And um, they're gonna do whatever it takes and to to produce a product that's a safe protein, the safest, best protein that there is. And not only not only that, is that we believe in it. The the product that that we raise, we believe um there's been um brainstorming all of this work that somebody dreamed, and somebody's dream came true, providing you a product of something that that's good to eat.

Donna Cortese 2:16:21

And make it the best.

Luke Cortese 2:16:22

And make it the best and love it. And that is the best. We eat it every day.

Carollann Romo 2:16:26

Yeah, yeah. Same thing you serve to your your families, right?

Luke Cortese 2:16:29

Yeah, safe, um, wholesome. We do everything we can to provide the best product that we can provide.

Speaker 2 2:16:36

Yep.

Carollann Romo 2:16:37

Absolutely. I I hope I hope consumers know that as well. Yep. Um what advice would you give someone who wants to follow in your footsteps?

Luke Cortese 2:16:46

Good luck.

Donna Cortese 2:16:47

Yeah, just know that there's gonna be good and bad. Yeah, go with both and don't get up.

Luke Cortese 2:16:54

What a uh another saying that I say it's gonna get worse before it gets better.

Taylor Lee 2:16:58

Yeah. There's truth to that. Yeah.

Luke Cortese 2:17:01

But hard work still still pays off if anywhere in today's world you put your head down and you work, you're gonna be successful. And don't be afraid to start at the bottom and work your way up. That's the best. And to be honest, if let's say that I wanted to be a cutting horse trainer and it's crossed my mind, I would go and find a successful cutting horse trainer, and I would clean his pins and I'd do whatever it took, and I'd work every single day as hard and harder than whoever was next to me, and it wouldn't be very long, I'd be his head trainer sitting right next to him, and he would invest time in me versus someone else. And um I I was a special ed student, um, I'm super dyslexic, and but I'm a hard worker and I don't give up, and that that just because maybe you have challenges, it doesn't mean that you can't be successful, and that you get good at what you want to do. Figure out whatever it is that you want to do and go master that job and be good at it. And and I if I was going to hire somebody and and let's say that that I'm running a big company and and and that I'm in charge of hiring, I would rather have somebody that isn't as smart and that's willing to learn and will work and be the first one there and the last one to leave, be willing to sweep, clean the toilet, whatever it takes, versus someone that's had all the education in the world but is lazy and and they think they're too good or they're not because I ain't too good. Uh the other day, another story. We we were welding and and uh rebuilding a ranch and and I was helping my son weld and and putting in H braces, and I grabbed the paintbrush and I was painting. That's the lowest job there. And I told my cousin that helps helps me. I said, I want Jordan to know that I ain't too good to paint, and neither should he. And he said, and it was a proud moment. He said, No, no, no. Jordan works, he'll he'll paint just like everyone else. And and that's advice that I could give you is that he might be the boss, but you show up and you do whatever job needs done, and you figure out wherever you gotta be at, or or don't be afraid to work. Yep. Yeah, hard work beats talent when talent doesn't work. Yep.

Carollann Romo 2:19:23

Absolutely. I think I yeah, I think throughout the the whole conversation, which this is the longest podcast we've done, it's really really been fun and an honor to talk to you guys. And I mean there's more of you, so of course it's gonna take a while, which I I again are grateful for your time, but the themes of hard work, uh theme of humility, um, but but those things, and then that mentorship, those are excellent things that I'm taking away from this conversation. Uh so I appreciate that. So, okay, my last question. Um, unless unless you guys have anything else you wanted to make sure and get get out.

Luke Cortese 2:19:55

I got one more thing. Yeah, yeah, go ahead. Okay, so so we have a little girl and she's nine years old, and uh she works, and the she says uh I I tell her, I said, uh you go girl. And boy, we can be working, and I can look at her and I can say, you go girl, and boy, she puts her hair up and she goes to going. But since then, uh truck drivers will text me, or even cattle buyers, and they'll send me like a recap. And so it's like a joke, and they they send it to me and I text back, you go girl. And they all there they it's it's hilarious the way some people take it and some people can't take it, but um, don't be afraid to have fun.

Favorite Beef Meals And Farewell

Carollann Romo 2:20:37

Yeah. Excellent, excellent advice, and uh and still goes down to the uh positivity, right, of of encouraging a young person, right? I try and I would I told my kid this morning she was helping her dad back the trailer. But when I when I drove in, I told you guys I was on the phone. She was he was on speakerphone and he said he was letting her back the trailer up and tell him when before he hit something, and I was nervous. She's four, what's he doing? Yeah, girls need a dad, that's okay. So they're doing it, and and then she got on the phone with me and I said, Well, are you proud of yourself? And she said, Yeah, and I said, I'm proud of you too. Yeah, don't be afraid to fail. Yeah, either.

Luke Cortese 2:21:12

But what Kayla said is that you're better to do it and fail than to not do it.

Carollann Romo 2:21:17

Absolutely, absolutely. Well, and he was trusting my husband, it was a great example of just trusting somebody to try. Yeah. Uh yeah. A silly, a silly version, because thank goodness nothing got hit. Um, but okay, well, I I appreciate that. So, our my my last favorite question um what's your current favorite way to eat beef? It can just be a recipe you like right now, and then we might ask you to put it on the website if you're willing. Oh my goodness. Um, or just your favorite way, uh, you know, it could be the forever favorite too. But um right now, one of my quick easy recipes is a cheeseburger slider that you just make. It's just those silly Hawaiian rolls, ground beef, mayonnaise, cheese, and it's easy. It takes 30 minutes, there's no there's no stress littleness, and yeah, uh, that's my favorite easy recipe right now.

Luke Cortese 2:22:07

You're up to man.

Taylor Lee 2:22:10

Um I don't know, a good ribeye steak, medium rare, that's hard to beat. Hard to beat. Um we have some friends that make uh really good chili colorado with with beef instead of pork and they make the best food and um that on top of like a thin ribeye steak. Oh man.

Kayla Lee 2:22:29

That's hard to beat.

Taylor Lee 2:22:30

Or a green chili cheeseburger. I don't know, it's all good.

Kayla Lee 2:22:32

All of it. Um I'd say my last supper would have to include or my last meal would have to include like some homemade red chili enchiladas. And you know, if you get on kind of like closer to the to the border, like into another state, they start giving you red chili enchiladas that have like brown enchilada gravy. Yeah, yeah. I'm talking homemade red chili sauce that we make from the New Mexico red chili. Yes, we make it from scratch. It's amazing. My grandma's is the best. And if you're getting flat-stacked enchiladas, so you you fry your tortilla, put your ground beef, then put your sauce, cheese, and then layer that again with that beautiful vibrant red chili, and with a fried egg on top, and then a side of homemade Mexican rice, homemade refried beans, and a ribeye steak. Big old juicy ribeye steak, cooked medium rare. Like somebody loves you a lot if they're serving you that. And that's probably my that's my favorite for sure.

Carollann Romo 2:23:40

That's a great last meal.

Kayla Lee 2:23:41

Yeah, that's a great with a Mexican Coke out of the glass bottle with the colour. Ooh, alright, all right.

Carollann Romo 2:23:46

I think I think some new Mexicans are gonna love the comments on this one if this one makes it to social media.

Donna Cortese 2:23:53

I could go any of that. I would like green chili stew, fajitas, oh green chili stew, like the green chili sauce or the red chili sauce, or either one of those two.

Luke Cortese 2:24:06

Like uh a rubai steak, it's hard to beat. Yeah, absolutely. Um we do a deal where we put mustard on the steak and it holds the seasoning in. Oh man. We're gonna cook one here in a minute. So you can be the judge and it's a good thing. Oh man, dang, we got them got them laid out. That's on a on a uh grill or open fire. Hard to beat.

Carollann Romo 2:24:32

Absolutely, absolutely. It all sounds delicious. Uh however, however you eat beef, we're happy you're eating beef, right? Um, well, thank you guys so much. I appreciate your time, your kindness, uh, your advice, your everything. Um, it was an honor to uh um be invited into your home and to get to talk to you guys, much less now put it on on the internet for the world to hear. So um thank you, thank you, and then and then thank you also for the important role you play in feeding the world. So I love beef, I love to eat, and I need people like you to make that happen, right? So uh personally and professionally for having it. Yeah, thank you guys. Behind the Burger is produced by the New Mexico Beef Council to celebrate the people and stories behind New Mexico beef. Thanks for listening. Follow the show so you never miss an episode and connect with us on social media for more behind-the-scenes stories and updates. You can find us on Instagram, TikTok, and YouTube at NM Beef and on Facebook at NM Beef Council. We'll see you next time, and until then, beef. It's what's for dinner.