Small victories with Wisconsin dairy Norm-E-Lane

Shay

Foulk: Welcome back to the Ag View Pitch, everyone. Shay Foulk here with a special guest from Wisconsin. Will you go ahead and introduce yourself and tell the listeners kind of who, what, when, where, and, and why you got going up there, Jared?

Jerod

Schmidt: Sure. Um, yeah, Jared Schmidt from Normilane Incorporated, uh, Chili, Wisconsin. Uh, we're a 2,500-cow dairy. Um, running 4,700 acres of crops. And then, but an interesting spring.

Shay

Foulk: Yeah, no doubt in the summer, right? And, uh, so how long, how long have you been in the dairy business, Jared?

Jerod

Schmidt: Uh, Normie Lane's been in the dairy business since mid-'60s. Um, I've been with them for since 2000, so 19 years. And I grew up in the dairy industry as well. Just, and so it's, it's been my life. Been good.

Shay

Foulk: Right. And so for Chili, Wisconsin, for those who don't know, what, what kind of region are you in there?

Jerod

Schmidt: We're in the central, central Wisconsin. We're kind of straight across from Green Bay, Wausau, Marshfield, Pittsville. Pittsville is the geographical center of Wisconsin. We're about 25 miles, a little bit northwest of there. So we're, we have sand country to the east of us by Stevens Point, and we're in a heavy clay. Well, Marshfield is called Marshfield for a reason. So, right, right, that type of ground we run.

Shay

Foulk: How, how's the marsh doing there this year then? You guys catch some rains here recently?

Jerod

Schmidt: Yep, rains are pretty pretty consistent daily or several times a week at least. But at least I'm not gonna, you know, it's hard not to complain, but I'm not going to complain because there's other areas that are, are struggling way worse than we are. We're, we've been able to plant on and off, um, in actually pretty good conditions when we are planting. We're not done yet. Really hoping to get done here in June. We really need feed for the dairy. So, so not planting really isn't, isn't an option for us. We're, we need forage however we can make that happen.

Shay

Foulk: Right, and a lot of other producers are looking at it from the standpoint that they need to fill grain contracts, and you're looking at it of, hey, we have mouths that we need to feed.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, which would be a similar, similar situation, you know. Our cows, they rely on us, so.

Shay

Foulk: What are some of the ways that you're working to get around that? I mean, is there any sort of work with other operations, or do you think you're going to have enough to be covered there?

Jerod

Schmidt: Well, we've got some options. We've got an informal collaboration. We've been working with two other growers for, for two years, going on three years now. We've got some options for them. They've got some crops in the ground that worst case scenario if ours don't perform well enough, um, we, we, we could work out something with purchasing corn silage from them and, and maybe even some summer forage, some hay or alfalfa potentially coming up. Um, and so on the flip side they're also in a position they're primarily grain and they're pretty much done They're going to be in a position to help us finish up hopefully this week if we get some weather. We need a couple, 3 days to dry out. But they're geared up to come our direction and, and get a lot done here.

Shay

Foulk: So it's good to have those partnerships. We'll bounce back to that collaboration here in a little bit. You mentioned, you know, we hope to get done planting here in June. And for everybody out there, they're thinking, well, what do you mean you hope? Why would you not be done in June? But we were talking a few days ago, 2013, that was a whole different story. How late did you plant in 2013?

Jerod

Schmidt: Yeah, so, so in 2013 I finished planting on July 6th.

Shay

Foulk: Wow.

Jerod

Schmidt: And that was July, or 2013 was, was similar to this year but worse. Um, we, our rainfalls would be higher amounts, um, at that time, and we, we had 100% winter kill of our alfalfa that year. And any— we had a tremendous amount of replant. We really, really pushed planting because we were kind of— we were in panic mode that year. And, and, and so we, we just kept planting and kept dying. Things kept dying out. Seed would be dead in 48 hours if it didn't emerge. It just smelled like a swamp. And, and, but, but based off of 2013, we made some changes that if we'd be in the situation again,, that we could handle it better, and we are definitely handling it better.

Shay

Foulk: Can you talk through some of those lessons learned there? What, what are some of the specifics that you took away from that?

Jerod

Schmidt: Ah, patience. Patience was probably number one. It's guaranteed number one, right? You know, I get a lot of heat on, on, hey, you should be planting, let's just get her in and see what happens. I know, you know, we've We've learned a lot, and you know, we continue to learn a lot, and we've still got a lot of growing season left potentially. You know, there's no guarantee what fall will look like, so we've changed our planter setups based off of '13, tillage practices, our fall tillage practices. We've done some things to try to mitigate risk for these what-if situations, and This what-if situation is really, really pulling through for us.

Shay

Foulk: Yeah, this, this is the year.

Jerod

Schmidt: Yes, correct.

Shay

Foulk: You know, 5 years of not having issues with it since then, and a lot of operations tend to get lackadaisical or it goes by the wayside and it's just not something that you plan for. But with that risk management, you know, you can speak to that as far as this is why you have these plans in place is for years like this. And it sounds like you're attacking that really well.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right. We've got good people that we work with as well that are very much part of that program and that planning. And that just helps reaffirm what we're doing is the right thing to do.

Shay

Foulk: I think every operation has different influencers and areas that they get their information from. Who is that as far as, you know, more so just titles, not necessarily names, but What, who are the people that are helping you make those types of decisions?

Jerod

Schmidt: We have a key seed, seed and agronomist. I mean, he just lives and breathes, you know, seed and corn and the agronomy that goes with it. And then we also have a fertility guy, you know, different companies, they have worked together crossing paths before, but we've got a guy on the fertility side. Same thing, we're just, we're very much on the same page. It's basically daily conversations, um, and then even amongst our own group, our nutritionist as well is a big part of— we meet with him preseason plan, in-season plan, now that we're in a tough situation, you know, to stick to what he really wants to work with for feed, um, and what our plans look like, um, and then just our own our own informal collaborative group as well. We connect back and forth and what the plans are and the what-ifs. If this doesn't work out for us, you know, what are our options?

Shay

Foulk: Finding those people probably helps you sleep a little bit better at night.

Jerod

Schmidt: It does. It really does. And we've got it down on paper and it's pretty organized, we try. And it's easier to change a plan if you got a plan in place. If you don't have a plan, it's, it turns into chaos.

Shay

Foulk: Right. And we've had a few people here on the podcast mentioned that aspect of things and related it back to, you know, war planning or battlefield planning. It's, it's never what you expect it to be once you're on the ground. But having some sort of a plan to base on at least gives you the preparation that you need. Exactly. And I think the other thing is just having those conversations. You mentioned it doesn't have to be someone that's necessarily the jack of all trades or the perfect person there. Just having the conversations with people, getting a little bit of a different perspective. And some of what we're trying to provide here on the podcast is what are other people doing? How is— how well is it working for them? And how can we implement some of those practices in our operation?

Jerod

Schmidt: Correct. Correct. And just talking to somebody that really doesn't know what you're doing, but they question why you're doing it. Sometimes it's just the landlord. He'll pop in and say, hey, you know, why are you out here no-tilling corn? You know, this isn't what you do. And then I grab a shovel and dig up dirt, bring over to him, and explain to him why. And then he's good with it. Mm-hmm. And but just being questioned is a good thing as well.

Shay

Foulk: Right. And some people don't like that. So I think that speaks volumes to, you know, who you are as a producer and the people that you work with is being able to answer those questions that not only, you know, potentially justifies it to them, but it makes you— it reaffirms that what you're doing is the right thing.

Jerod

Schmidt: Or just puts the thought in your head of, okay, why? Why, why am I doing this? You know, maybe I should think a little bit different.

Shay

Foulk: And so you mentioned 2013, you had pretty much 100% winter kill alfalfa, and I know you're dealing with some of that now. How are you mitigating some of that risk as far as your, your forage goes there?

Jerod

Schmidt: Uh, what we've done this year is, uh, we're not 100% kill, but it really went— it's been going backwards since our initial what we thought our kill was going to be, but as soon as we could get in, we came in and no-till triticale right into existing stands and just decided we'll take, we'll take a triticale crop and take whatever else grows with it. And now we're looking at double cropping them. That triticale's not ready yet, but we're gonna double crop a second crop and then turn them back around, probably plant a third time in fall for a spring crop, and then we'll go to an early silage for next season. And, and so we've got a little bit of oats that was real early. Um, actually it's been struggling. Oats should be an easy thing to grow, and just how the conditions went, it's, it's coming but not like it should be.

Shay

Foulk: That's some heavy management to decisions to be making when you're looking at 3 different crops within a season and then planning for the next year or 2. It's a lot to juggle.

Jerod

Schmidt: It is, and it's just— and it's a revolving door. It's just the plans are changing. Some of them were stated committed to— it's really tempting to— I could be in some fields today planting no-till corn, but they're committed to being seeded down to alfalfa for the next few years, and, and And hopefully, it looks like we should maybe be able to feed them by Wednesday, Thursday this week. Um, but, but it's really tempting to change a plan, and it's not the right thing to do either.

Shay

Foulk: So you mentioned some, some changes that you made over the last 4, 5, 6 years with your setup and management practices. One thing that I found really unique and interesting within your operation is the planting system that you run. And I know there's a lot of people out there that do it differently. And I think that's what's so exciting is there's no one right way to do it. But will you talk a little bit about the planter setup and paint a picture? I wish we could post a picture on the podcast of the system that you have there. But can you talk through that a little bit?

Jerod

Schmidt: Yeah, yeah. So a quick review. 2013, we're planting with a QuadTrac. So 2013, we were pulling up, we were in 15-inch rows, 40-foot planter, just a conventional 1790 Deere. So I could carry in the fields with the tractor, but I couldn't pull the planter, would create ruts. And it was just, it was so, so disheartening to go to a field and then couldn't plant it. And so I started focusing on, you know, we've got these tracks, and, um, it changed, uh, 3-point planters and a lot of research, a couple years actually, couple years of research, couple years of just buy-in of, you know, this is what I want, and that it would work because we were in uncharted territory. It was a completely custom setup. And so we got into a position we had to order a year ahead and we set it up.

But we've currently got it planted with a QuadTrac and we've got a 60-foot 20-inch planter, 100% 3-point carried. There's no carrying wheels on the planter, and I can go into a field now. We're carrying nitrogen on the, on the front of the QuadTrac. We have a 1,000-gallon tank and a 500-gallon tank of pop-up fertilizer above the fuel tank, but I can manage my weight and I can tiptoe into these fields now. And not leave any ruts. I can, I can, if I do have a water hole, I can just pick up the planter and scoot through it or around it and not, not leave ruts in the field. And it's, and it affects everything else. We're into, we're coming into, we Y-drop 1 to 2 times a season, we have fungicide.

So that's the other thing that goes along with it is, is having this 3-point planter has allowed me to really treat be in marginal fields that structure-wise were plantable and not having that equipment dragging behind me let me get in there. And they're not all beat up for the rest of the season or for next year.

Shay

Foulk: So, um, go ahead.

Jerod

Schmidt: It's a good reminder of why I set it up, right? And but I'd rather not repeat it forever, but it probably will happen again. Yep.

Shay

Foulk: And if I remember correctly, within that system you can do dual hybrid, and then you even had it loaded for corn and beans this year, correct?

Jerod

Schmidt: Correct, correct. So we, we run dual hybrid meters, um, so we've done dual hybrid prescriptions. We plant a lot of BMR for silage for the dairy.. But then some fields, some areas of fields don't like that. But this year, based on conditions, I've got one set of meters with corn meters, one set set up with soybeans, and actually this morning we switched back to wheat meters for the triticale. So I'm going to be in a situation— I've had situations where I planted corn and beans the same day, just switch seed delivery hose position. And then, um, and it's gonna be the same thing now with corn and triticale. We're gonna be— we're cutting alfalfa again today, or what is out there, and I'm gonna be no-till and some triticale into some hay fields and also right along with some corn fields as well.

Shay

Foulk: So very, very unique system, and maybe I'll be able to steal some pictures from you here a little later.

Jerod

Schmidt: And yep.

Shay

Foulk: Post it up on our Facebook page. So I can see, I guess that's just the nerdy equipment side of me coming out there. But I really do think that that's a unique system. Other people enjoy looking at that as well. With the best agri— or, you know, the biggest agronomic challenges that you've encountered this year, what is typical for you in your area as far as agronomic challenges? What's the biggest challenge you face there in central Wisconsin?

Jerod

Schmidt: Oh, just cool wet soils and conditions. And this year just keeps going on and on. Drying out for us isn't on the radar really heavily. It's always, it was always getting dry to get dried out so we can run. We've been, we do, we put, we've been installing drain tile here on a yearly basis in areas to help areas out. And, um, and, and that's pretty much a 2-year payback on what we installed this winter, um, on that field, just based off of current yields and not planting. And, um, and alfalfa— alfalfa survival is really, really tough for us as well. So we're, we're kind of revamping our, our risk on— we're going to on that, adding some fescue grasses in and some different things just to, just to try to go along with what the weather's given us. It's, it's different all the time, but it seems to be harder to work with.

Shay

Foulk: Right. Well, in a 2-year turnaround on that, that's, uh, that's pretty quick. I think most producers in the country probably wish they had a 2-year turnaround on their tile investment as well.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, when you go from zero yield because you didn't plant it to even half of a yield, which, um, we average about 20 tons of silage a year, and this year is going to be down just due to late planting. But even at 10 ton, you know, it's what I tell people, it's pretty easy to double zero, um, right?

Shay

Foulk: So, so with this, I mean, cool, wet, hard to dry out, getting planted a little bit later here. What does your yield potential look like as far as, you know, this season as compared to average? And that's one of the first questions producers will ask is they'll say, hey, did you get planted? And then the follow-up question is, oh, how do you think it's going to do, or how are conditions for that?

Jerod

Schmidt: Right. So in 2013, just as an example, we had a— we had 13-ton yield Okay, water shut off in July. We planted till July and then the water shut off and it, it turned crazy rock hard and it was ugly, but we had pulled through with 13 tons yield. And last year we came out with a 20.5 ton. So right now I'm leaning towards, you know, I'm trying to hold on to an 18-ton average. To pull out yet this season because we did get some in, in good conditions. And what is coming is looking good. And so yeah, but it just, we'll see, you know, 10%, but it could be 15, it could be 20% yield reduction.

Shay

Foulk: But I think, I think the key that you hit on there is the summer and the fall will have a lot more, you know, weight into what that looks like here at the end of the year than maybe even what's going on right now.

Jerod

Schmidt: Correct.

Shay

Foulk: So switch gears here a little bit. I think we kind of hit on that portion. And, uh, you know, as far as the dairy industry goes, it, it's an interesting time for sure. And people, people have a lot of questions there. What are your thoughts on kind of the current state of the dairy industry? And what's, what's the future of that? Where do we go from here?

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, definitely, definitely been, it's been a struggle, um, and, and it's, it's price has been coming up a little bit, um, yeah, the biggest thing on the dairy side is just there is a lot of number scrunching, there's, you know, we rely on our financial officer and our nutritionist and, and everybody, um, really to work through on how to how to increase production and decrease, you know, our inputs and keep tightening that gap. And, and we've still got room to go. There's just learning on other areas that have been dealing with lower prices longer than we have. They've done better than— they're doing better than us. We've got room to improve yet on cost of production and But knowing that, and we keep plugging away and getting better, hopefully. And we are, we are. We do a lot of measuring that we never used to do in the past of data and such to take the I don't knows.

You know, I just don't like having a question of being questioned than be able to say I don't know.

Shay

Foulk: Right. It's a process too. I think some people get frustrated and you want to make changes right now and maybe don't realize that this isn't a 2-month game. This is a 2-year, an 8-year, or a 20-year plan in order to maintain viability, looking at the long-term strategy there. Right.

Jerod

Schmidt: And the industry is just changing, as with any businesses. In some ways, this isn't nothing new. It's just, it's just becoming way more stressful and not as easy. I mean, it's a business. And it's become very difficult and you got to look at different ways. We work with another farm, smaller farm, and he asked me a couple years ago, you know, you want to add some cows and, you know, what would you suggest we do? And I said, well, I would suggest we run all your cropland and we take care of everything there. You take care of the cows and we'll sell your crops as needed. And they don't have the people to do that. They didn't have the land base to do it. And so that's what they did. They added a few cows and we run their land now. So it's gonna be things like that. It's gonna be more collaborative type, just different ideas and working relationships going forward. Mm-hmm.

Shay

Foulk: And that's a great segue into some of the follow-up questions that I had there with the collaboration. Obviously, that appears to be working well for you. And I know it is for a lot of other people. But a lot of producers get scared when they think about collaboration. One is they're not used to it. They don't understand the concept behind it. And the, you know, the second one is, well, vertical integration is a bad thing. And we've seen so much of that, particularly within the dairy industry for a long time. And everybody— I shouldn't say everybody— a lot of people make it out to a demon that maybe it isn't necessarily. Why, you know, why— talk a little bit about why it has worked well for you, and particularly with that example that you just gave. I mean, it, it sounds like it's working really well.

Jerod

Schmidt: It's, it's working. I mean, it's a— but it's also a lot of work to make it work, um, and it really challenges a person to I mean, when you present that, you got to be in a position to keep showing them the whys. Whys or why not. You know, not everything works. And that's why on the equipment side, we kept it as an informal relationship. Got really close to the formal side of things and then just kind of pulled back. And we can make this work without being a formal entity.. And then, and then same with this, this dairy situation. But they really challenge, um, challenge me as well to, to be able to present to them what it would look like with them doing it themselves and what it looks like with us doing it, um, and to be able to explain that.

Shay

Foulk: And well, it has to make sense for everybody.

Jerod

Schmidt: It does. And it's, and then that's, that's, that's an ongoing, that's the biggest challenge and struggle And in a positive way though too, because then that's what makes us better going forward to, you know, what, what can we do to, to be survive and be on the leading edge. Right.

Shay

Foulk: So outside of the collaboration, some of those things that we've touched on here, what are, what are the winning producers or the, the people that are doing a lot of doing things really well. What are they doing right? What in your mind makes them stand out from some of the others who are struggling?

Jerod

Schmidt: Oh, they're just a lot of good communication, a lot of good people being open-minded and not scared. You know, it might make you a little nervous sometimes, some things, but you really got to be And it's a numbers game. I mean, it's really— we just got to keep knowing our numbers better and being with people that can help that. Because we can't know everything ourselves, but we got to be able to say, hey, this person knows this and this person knows this, you know, go talk to them. You know, you can just delegate that and feel good that it's going to be, you know, good information that they're providing as well.

Shay

Foulk: Right. Two points I want to hit on there real quick, Jared. The first one is, I love what you said about not being afraid to have change. I'm a big advocate of I want people to do things because they want to do them, not because they're afraid. And so whether it's the safety side of things, I don't believe in fearmongering for safety. I think that safety should be an issue that you want to address because you care about the people. And the same thing with your with your production. And, you know, whether you're dairy or crop production, or, you know, other forms of livestock, I don't think that you should do something because you're afraid of what might happen. I think you should do something because of the upside and the potential that it has there. So great, great point on that.

And then also, you know, as far as the number side of things that you mentioned there, obviously, with some of the work that we do with Ag View Solutions and Chris Barron running Profit Manager. We see with a lot of operations how successful that has been in knowing the cost of production and getting some of those things dialed in. Can you just speak here for, you know, 20 seconds on how that's been for you guys and what you've done with that?

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, Profit Manager has been a huge positive addition for us, and I've tweaked it to our our cropping program. And, and now I've went so far as to— I've got a separate spreadsheet that I had a pre-plan for the whole season on everything. And now as the season's progressing, I update it. I try to update it daily, um, as a change. And I've got them posted. I got our preseason plans posted in the shop and at the dairy, so, so on a big laminated thing so people can see what our plan was.. And then at the end of season here, I'll do the same thing as to what it turned out to be. That also helps me enter into Profit Manager what I plan to do and what I did to really tighten up our numbers. And then to see what— now I think about that every time I'm out there doing something. Okay, I'm no-tilling this field. Okay, I'm saving a tillage pass, I'm saving a, you know, Maybe a roller.

We've, we had a couple situations where we didn't run the roller that we normally would have. So them little things, you know, might affect some yield, but they might, might offset. But I know them, I know that, you know, or we'll be able to track it.

Shay

Foulk: And that, that which can be measured can be improved. And your operation does an outstanding job of that. Every time Chris and I talk about what you have going on up there with Profit Manager, he said, man, he just took it and ran with it and If there's anybody that has a question on dairy, I'm just going to send them to Jared, and he's kind of got that in order there. So, um, one last piece kind of on the collaboration here. You mentioned the informal agreements, the formal agreements that you have, and then within the dairy, uh, if I understand it correctly, you separate the crop production, uh, from the dairy side a little bit, right, with who, who has that responsibility. So can you speak just real quick to what the roles and responsibilities does within the operation and why it's important.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, right. So, um, Josh, um, uh, he heads up the dairy side of things and, and has key people under and on that side, um, working with the cows and on the feeding and milker meetings. And, and, and so Josh meets— heads that up, and I head up the crop production side. And I've got a couple real key guys, um, that can, that can take things and run and that are part of our meetings. Um, but then on the flip side, we share back and forth. I provide everything on the cropping side because it all comes back to the cows. The cows are, the cows are king, you know, so it's gotta, it's gotta make sense that we can provide a crop and that we can get milk out of them. So we really need to be working together as well. So there's a lot of, a lot of sharing back and forth from both sides, you know, it's a bit—

Shay

Foulk: and just having those expectations outlined, I think, is, is what's really awesome there.

Jerod

Schmidt: And yeah, we got together this spring, we got a bunker management plan for where the crops were going to go. Based on what we projected for yields. That's going to change a little bit now based on what our season has given us, but we know that, you know, so we can change, we can change our plan as we go. Um, and, and we're very aware of where we are at crops, so then we're, we're purchasing dry hay to help fill some gaps. And, um, and then also with purchasing crops, we've got We've got our financial guy and our, and our nutritionist that really can give us good feedback of yes or no, you should buy this. No, that doesn't make no sense to buy it, you know, or negotiate harder. Um, and so that just gives us confidence on our decision making.

Shay

Foulk: Right. Again, helping you sleep better at night. Yes.

Jerod

Schmidt: Yeah.

Shay

Foulk: Um, you know, to kind of wrap things up here, Let's, let's talk a little bit about how things are in the countryside because we know it's rough everywhere. It's been difficult. And producers are just facing an absolute avalanche of decisions right now. And it's not, not out of the ordinary for that to happen in any given year. But it seems that this year a lot is being piled up. What are you seeing with the people that you work with? And how do you, how do you generate optimism out of that? How are you helping people through some of those things?

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, right, and that's a, that's a struggle. So the economics has been a struggle for some time, and now you start throwing in a, you know, I don't want to say cropping disaster, but, but in some situations it is, um, and, and it's hard enough to make, you know, they're making a go of it. And not everybody, unfortunately, is going to make it. It's just, um, you try to connect with people that we know and, and, and even don't know, just to talk through ideas and, you know, just to, just to be there for people and vice versa. Um, yeah, we got conversations back and forth, um, just with people that they're just not alone in what's going on and what they're doing, what we're doing. Just to help. It's just good to have that social connection. It still comes, but it comes down to people.

Even the people we work with, they get down and gloomy and it takes a lot of work to try to keep some fire in them to be positive and that, hey, the sun's out today and, well, it's going to rain in 2 days. I go, well, the sun's out now. It's just You just, just gotta go with it, right?

Shay

Foulk: And it's gonna work out. It always does. And, you know, if it, if it is an instance where an operation doesn't make it, there's, there's still opportunistic things there that are happening, and people will make it through. And the biggest, the biggest message I think that you were kind of driving home there, and what we've seen without the throughout the community of agriculture in general is you're not alone. No. And just, just talk to people, just talk about what's going on. If it's the neighbor down the road, or like you said, someone you've never met, just to— sometimes that's easier to talk to someone that you don't know and kind of get it off your chest and look at it from a bit of a different perspective and see that, you know, things are probably gonna— things are gonna work out. They're gonna be all right.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right. And I keep telling everybody, a small victory victories. We had chopped hay last week. We had a little bit, nothing like we normally do, but we got it in perfect conditions and no rain on it. Moistures were good, quality was good, and we've got some more to do this week. And I said, well, small victory, small victories, you know, we keep plugging away. And it was kind of just as a, for instance too, we had my daughter's graduation party this weekend, and a lot of people that are non-farming but know that we farm and Just a lot of good conversation. They, I mean, they have a lot of questions and, you know, and how things are. And so just talking through that with people not in the industry helps as well. And just explaining to, and they'll, because they'll talk to people that they network with.

Shay

Foulk: And so the community coming together there.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right.

Shay

Foulk: Any, any last thoughts here, Jared, before we wrap up?

Jerod

Schmidt: No, sun's out. I'm going to plant some corn today and cutting hay and—

Shay

Foulk: Well, take those small victories where you can.

Jerod

Schmidt: Right, exactly.

Shay

Foulk: Well, thanks a lot for joining us today, Jared. Really appreciate having you on. And, you know, like I said, a lot of great things going on at the operation up there with Normie Lane and their collaborative partners. So, uh, thanks a lot, Jared.

Jerod

Schmidt: Yeah, thank you, Shay, and have a great day as well.

Shay

Foulk: For everyone listening, thanks again for listening to the Ag View Pitch, and we'll catch you next time.