Shaye Koester has always had a passion for beef cattle and wanted to start a business within the beef industry. Her desire to be in education because of how it can empower people to live better lives, combined with having a “communications bug,” led her to start her podcast, “Casual Cattle Conversations.”
Shaye was born and raised in North Dakota and grew up on a commercial and registered Red Angus ranch in Steele. She attended college at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln (UNL) and studied animal science and entrepreneurship in the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program. Shaye said the Engler Agribusiness Entrepreneurship Program is unique in that it helps students discover their passions and purpose, and helps empower students to pursue them no matter what they are, whether it is starting their own business or taking their entrepreneurial mindset to another career.
“The podcast was an easy entry to get into and see if that is what I like to do,” Shaye told WLJ. “I started by interviewing ranchers I knew about what they are good at and sharing that with other people in the beef community. Now it’s been 3 1/2 years and I’ve just let it grow. It’s been a lot of fun to have different ranchers on the show, people researching beef or supporting industries, whatever it may be, (being) able to connect to cattle producers with the resources or information they need to keep the wheels turning and think of new ways to improve their operation.”
Shaye said topics for the podcast are chosen based on what may be happening in the next few months to give time for ranchers to think about an issue and see if they want to make any changes to their operation.
“I think about, management-wise, what a lot of producers are going to be doing, and I think about current events and other things that are happening in the industry itself,” Shaye said. “There are 52 weeks in the year and I have an episode every week, so there’s a lot of slots to fill. Sometimes it needs to be a management show or management episode. Other times, it needs to just be a good story that inspires people; there’s value in both of those pieces and I try to have a mixture of it.”
In addition to the podcast, Shaye also has a weekly newsletter and a monthly “RancherMind” Q&A event with producers and experts on different topics. The event is a monthly Zoom call to allow people to connect with others in the industry and ask how they have solved issues they are facing. Shaye said each quarter they discuss a different topic on the call. For instance, in the next quarter, she will be talking about labor challenges and business management, and she will have people discuss using the H-2A temporary agricultural program, hiring interns and navigating employee benefits and wages. Shaye said the conversation doesn’t stop at the RancherMind calls but continues with a private Facebook group for producers to share information throughout the month.
Further involvement
After graduating from UNL in 2022, Shaye moved back to Steele to help her parents part time with the operation while continuing to grow her business. Shaye said returning to the operation in May was hectic with everything going on, but she returned with the mindset of what she wanted to do to improve her skills on the ranch, as there was still so much to learn. She added that going back was a little tricky at first, but she was fortunate to have older friends who returned immediately to the ranch to advise her and warn her it’s not like going back to the ranch for the summer.
“I really enjoyed it, though,” Shaye said. “It’s a blessing to come back to a family operation, it really is. But you also have to remember: it’s a business too. You have to be flexible, but you have to set goals and outcomes and be honest with everyone on the operation, how you want to provide value back to the ranch, and what you want to do and what you want to learn.”
In addition to her business and working on the family operation, Shaye completed her year in the Trailblazers program developed by the National Cattlemen’s Beef Association (NCBA), which gives participants the tools and training they need to promote beef to new audiences while addressing and correcting myths. Shaye said the program trained participants on how to be better advocates and how to help producers be their own advocate telling the beef story.
“I really enjoyed the program,” Shaye said. “It opened your eyes to what the consumer thinks because I think sometimes in rural America, it’s easy for us to say, ‘Oh, I live in a rural community, people know where beef comes from’, but we forget that we’re 2% of the population. There are people in Chicago, New York City, Dallas, Los Angeles, or any of those other larger towns that don’t have a clue where any of their food is coming from. So, it really just opened your eyes to why we need to share our own stories. And that doesn’t mean just sharing on social media, it just means sharing it in a way that works for us.”
Shaye said the Trailblazers program helps participants talk beyond the agriculture echo chamber and reach consumers who may have heard misleading information about the beef industry. Through information from NCBA and the Beef Checkoff, Trailblazers were told what issues were of concern to consumers, whether it was the environment, the nutritional value of beef, animal welfare or any other issues.
Shaye said if producers or others involved in the beef industry want to take advocacy to the next level, they should think about their own beef story, what makes that beef story unique and why they are proud of their own story that consumers can relate to. In addition to breaking out of the agriculture echo chamber, Shaye said, “Think about who you are as a person. What else are you involved with?” Shaye encouraged people to talk about their church groups, whether their kids play in sports or even participate in 4-H or FFA because there are some people who participate who did not come from an agricultural background.
“Look at how you can connect to other people through those other aspects of your life that are not directly tied to agriculture because that’s where you’re going to break out of the echo chamber and look at how you relate to them as a person,” Shaye said. “Are you a parent? Are you a fellow college student? Do you know you share the same career path? That’s kind of where I would start looking at—what is your story? What are the good pieces of your story and the truth that you can share, and who are those going to connect with?”
Shaye said while working on the ranch is No. 1 in her heart, she will continue growing the business of providing value to cattle producers. However, she always wants to maintain sight of what it is like working on the ranch and living that life because it helps her connect with cattle producers who listen to her podcast and RancherMind events. — Charles Wallace, WLJ editor
