Guests: Brad Bateman, Bateman’s Mosida Farms, Jason Bateman, Bateman’s Mosida Farms, Steve Bateman, Bateman’s Mosida Farms, Laun Hall, IFA Today in our pubcast, we are taking a deeper dive into Mosida Farms after a fascinating virtual farm tour at World Dairy Expo. The Bateman family operation includes 20,000 animals and over 5,000 crop acres in Cita, Utah. Wayne Bateman started Mosida Farms and once said, “We didn’t have it all together, but together we had it all.”
Today in our pubcast, we are taking a deeper dive into Mosida Farms after a fascinating virtual farm tour at World Dairy Expo. The Bateman family operation includes 20,000 animals and over 5,000 crop acres in Cita, Utah. Wayne Bateman started Mosida Farms and once said, “We didn’t have it all together, but together we had it all.”
The Batemans decided to diversify and added beef to their offering. Kaleb Bateman, joined the podcast via video, and says that Mosida Farms produces 40 to 100 beef calves a week. Those calves are fed and eventually sold in one of three Mosida Market locations. Mosida Market once was just the Bateman family selling beef to their neighbors before it evolved to where it is today. (15:03)
The Bateman family breeds their own beef and dairy crosses, including a Jersey x Charolais cross. Steve Bateman said the Jersey x Charolais crosses gain just as well as an Angus x Holstein cross. They are running trials with all different crosses and so far the Wagyu crosses are the flagship meat in the market. (27:30)
A labor shortage has helped push the Bateman family to put in a robotic milking system. Brad Bateman said the family traveled to look at different systems before finding one that will work. The stress level of cows has decreased in the robotic barn and it has allowed them the option to grow at a different rate. (29:25)
Brad Bateman says the family has a philosophy that if you take care of the cow, they will take care of you. To implement that idea there is weekly employee training. The desire of the Bateman family is to do what is best for the cow. (39:00)
Laun Hall, nutritionist for Mosida Farms, says there are two different diets, one is acidifying rations and the other is more basic. While they want to meet the nutritional needs of the cow, they also want as few ration changes as possible. (42:31)
Jason Bateman mentioned the robot barn is a controlled environment to test different feeds like specific hybrids of corn and the digestibility of different starches. By drilling down on this information, it will impact their bottom line. (52:30)
Steve Bateman wrapped up the podcast by commenting that a lot of dairies don’t have family to succeed them. Steve says you have to work to make it possible for your kids to continue the business, and get them involved early to keep them there. (1:02:10)
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Scott Sorrell (00:00:07):
Hello everyone, and welcome to the Real Science Exchange, the podcast for leading scientists and industry professionals. Meet over a few drinks to discuss the latest ideas and trends in animal nutrition. Hello, my name is Scott Sorrell. I'll be your host today for today's conversation. We are at the 55th World Dairy Expo today, and we've just gotten done watching a virtual farm tour of the Bateman Masita Dairy Farm in Cita Utah. And with me today, I've got three brothers from the dairy Brad Bateman, Steve Bateman, and Jason Bateman. So gentlemen, what I'd like to do is start and Brad, I'm gonna start with you. I wanna ask you to kind of introduce yourself and kind of talk a little about, a bit about your role with the dairy.
Brad Bateman (00:00:53):
Yeah, my name's Brad Bateman. Scott mentioned I do mostly all the feed. So, I procure the feed along with the long haul. We do, the diets all of the aspects of that, manage the inventories. And Darren is the assistant feed manager and he helps a lot. We bring a lot of feed in, Yeah, e every year, every day. You know, some days there's, there's 12, 15 trucks come across the scale. And so it's, it's no small task on these large dairies. And, you know, there are much larger dairies than we are around the country, but it's yeah, it's, it's a fun job and I enjoy it. I love the challenge of trying to figure out how to feed cows better and how to remain profitable, in the tough dairy climates that we've gone through in the past. And so yeah, that's what I do.
Scott Sorrell (00:01:53):
Oh, excellent. Well, looking forward to the conversation this afternoon. Steve, tell us a little bit about yourself and the role you play at the dairy.
Steve Bateman (00:01:59):
Well, you know, there was a time when us brothers, we did a little bit of everything. You know, we couldn't afford to hire a lot of help, so we were all involved in everything, the feeding, the breeding, the everything but the milking. But we, we have a big farm, but I, I work on the farm with 'em. We, you know, we, in the harvest, all have to be there. A part of the harvest worked with, when we grew the dairy, I'd done all of the buying of the cattle, you know, travel. We went from 1200 cows to 7,000 pretty fast. And we've had to buy a lot of cows over the years when we started the new dairy do that worked with the CRA management, you know, the dry lots, then we, we all, we all do a lot of things where we have to when we're harvesting, but we're, we're to the point now where we, we all have kids and sons-in-law in the business, and we're passing a lot of the things, the daily task onto our, our sons and sons-in-law.
Steve Bateman (00:03:01):
And we have another brother Lance that was with us that passed away not long ago, and he has two sons in the business and they're, they're working directly with the cows and doing a really good job. And all of our kids are in various areas. I have a son that's in accounting. Jason's son runs, the shop and works on the farm with him. Brad's son works in the calves. They all have their roles and they're doing a really good job. Yeah. You know, we're, we're excited how they're gonna carry the business on because we would hope that our, our business would be on, go on many generations if possible. Right. Absolutely.
Scott Sorrell (00:03:35):
Yeah. I met some of the young men that's the kids and, they're very bright and intelligent. So I think, I think the future of the Maita dairies is in good hands. Yeah,
Steve Bateman (00:03:46):
I think it is too.
Scott Sorrell (00:03:47):
Jason, how about you?
Jason Bateman (00:03:50):
So, my role on the farm is, is a farm. I do the farm and, and the equipment and things like that. But it's, it's been so fun to be able to build the farm as we go and expand and do all these things. And we take some pretty marginal farm ground and turn it into some pretty amazing farm ground. And that's been a really fun thing. And to do it with our boys, you know, I got one son in the business chance. And it, the thing that I love about it is, is the challenge and the, and what we've been able to do together to build, you know, a, a business. You know, I look at when dad started and to where we are, it's been pretty fun. Been a fun journey to work with my dad and, and my brothers. And, and, and it's been a challenge to just build and, and keep growing and doing. Cuz if we don't move forward, we're moving back. We're,
Scott Sorrell (00:04:43):
Yeah, exactly. Also, wanna acknowledge that we've got a lawn hall here. The lawn is your nutritionist. He came along with you to the virtual farm tour. We're gonna have him come in in a little bit, and so we'll introduce him at that time. You know, all three of you in your opening comments, talked about family, and, you know, I think I met you guys first, I think it was probably back in July when we came out to do the interviewing. And, that was my key takeaway after visiting with you guys. You know, I love the farm, but the thing that struck me most was the family. And you know, and so I I love all you guys, but I gotta tell you my favorite is your dad, Wayne. He's something else. He, he is, you know, I was kind of smiting with him, but, and you know, it, it all started with your father and your mother. And he's not, he's not able to travel here and wasn't able to be with us this week. But we do have a clip that we'd like to share here. At, this point,
Wayne Bateman (00:05:40):
I'm Wayne Bateman. I come home one day to my wife and I said, Denny, I'm quitting school and I'm gonna get her the cows and we're gonna dairy and farm. She about was gonna kill me,
Scott Sorrell (00:07:16):
You know, one of the comments your dad said in that clip was, as a family, we didn't have it all together, but together we had it all. And I thought that was pretty profound that, that kind of spoke to me. Can you tell us about, you know, tell us about the role of the family in the operation?
Brad Bateman (00:07:36):
Well, maybe I'll start. I, The, the thing the, the huge benefit and blessing of working together as a family is, you know, that if you've gotta run to a kid's soccer game or football game you have brothers at home that love what they do as much as you do, and their passion and their drive to work and take care of things, you know that there's gonna be somebody there, somebody there to take care of things. And that, that has a passion for the business as much as you do. And that's a huge advantage because sometimes you don't have that. You, we have great, wonderful employees, and a lot of them are very dedicated, but at the end of the day, the buck stops with us. It, it, it's top-down management. We have to be good. We have to be at our best every day, and we have to instill that confidence and that optimism towards the business and give our employees that who raw too, to come every day and, and do a great job. And if I leave, then, I have brothers to check up on and to make sure things are happening. So it's, it's a huge advantage. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:08:55):
You know, Steve, I was talking to you a little bit ago and you made the comment that you know, everybody, nobody wants to leave. You have the opportunity maybe to start dairies in other parts of the country, but nobody wants to leave. And, and I, I find that interesting as, as a young man, I left home at 17 years old, went to college, and I've never lived back there. And so there's gotta be a satisfaction, right? Of, of working with family, being with your kids, being with your father. Can you talk a little bit about that?
Steve Bateman (00:09:20):
Well, like I was telling you earlier, we, live in a place that everybody likes and all of our kids live there. We have family all around us. You know, we all have kids that aren't a part of the business, and where we're at it, to us, it's about our family. You know, we, we, we have meetings every week when we're not cropping. We, meet in the conference room and we talk and we always say, You know what? There are a lot of really cool places in this country to dairy, probably more economical than where we're at. But we love where we live, and our families around us, and we don't wanna leave them. And nor doesn't any of our kids, you know, we talk about cans as you talk about, you know, the Dakotas or wherever. There are a lot of dairymen going to different places. And we, we talk about those things, but we're where we're at because that's where we want to be because we wanna be with family and we don't wanna have to travel to go see our kids and they're within 30 minutes of us where, where any of em live, so. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:10:14):
Makes sense. Jason, how many family members are there? Whooping there at the dairy, do you know?
Jason Bateman (00:10:20):
So I have one son, Chance
Scott Sorrell (00:10:23):
Brad has met him. Chance is a fine young man.
Jason Bateman (00:10:27):
Yeah. He's, he's always the life of the party.
Scott Sorrell (00:10:28):
Okay. Take after dad.
Jason Bateman (00:10:32):
Yeah. His mom probably
Scott Sorrell (00:10:36):
Know, you know, mom's gonna hear this.
Jason Bateman (00:10:37):
Right, Right. And, then Brad has one involved, Steve has a son and a son-in-law, and Lance has two. And so that's what I love about what we do, is to see the spark and, and the fire starting to come into these guys and their ideas and what they should think. And, and, and it, it, it's good for our business. It, helps us look different, I, you know, like you said, the statement that my dad said is so true because, you know, you go build, you go do something. And if you do it on your own without getting inputs, it, you know, when you got a lot of people's inputs, it, it makes things so much better. The end product and I, I contribute, it's, it, those are tough conversations a lot of the times because we're, we're all a type personalities. We all want our way, but we've done it long enough, and that's why I hope the younger day generation can do it it takes a while, but at the end of the day, you get to the best product, the best idea. And we see it throughout every aspect of our farm, you know, cuz everyone has input. It's everyone's baby and we want input.
Scott Sorrell (00:11:50):
Absolutely. You know, a couple of you guys have mentioned Lance already and that he has passed away. And so I guess that happened earlier this year. Brad, would you mind talking a little bit about Lance, you know, who he was as a man and his contribution to the dairy?
Brad Bateman (00:12:07):
Well, Lance was what you got with Lance is somebody that was just rock solid. They were consistent in, in all that he did. He didn't get riled up very often. You always knew where he stood and, you know, sometimes he was a little stubborn, but, at the end of the day, he was so passionate about the farm and he loved it, and that's, that's a little bit sad. This is our first harvest, corn harvest without him. And he and I ran the choppers and, and it's, it's kind of hard that the first day I got in the chopper was a little sad that he wasn't there beside me. So but he was he, he was really in a lot of ways amazing and, and better in a lot of ways than a lot of us. And that's, that's what made this work well as everybody has their strengths and weaknesses and his strengths complimented the business well because he was so focused and dedicated to you know, the accounting part of it and the bookkeeping and, and early on, the cows, his sons have taken over that role that, yeah, I think when I think of Lance, I just think of how, how rock solid and steady he was.
Scott Sorrell (00:13:35):
Yeah. So Lance isn't able to hear to represent the family today other than in your hearts. But we do have a clip of his son Kaleb, and I'd like to play that now for us as
Kaleb Bateman (00:13:45):
Well. My name is Kaleb Bateman on this farm, I'm a third-generation dairyman, but my family's been milking cows since the beginning of time. The hard thing about coming into an existing business is you always have to contribute. And it's hard coming into a large operation and contributing because when my dad and his brothers came here with my grandpa, they brought a small handful of cows when they took over small handful of cows and they just grew astronomically. So my generation was motivated to do the same. We got started with beef cows, similar to any dairy. You always have a byproduct of meat. And we kind of started dabbling in, in cross breeding our lower-end stock to a beef cross. And that's how we got into it. And we started producing an Angus jersey and an Angus Holstein cross as well as a Holstein you cross.
Kaleb Bateman (00:14:41):
We produce 40 to a hundred beef calves a week, and we've tried to push as many of those through our market. And what we don't and what we're not able to, we ship to. Jobs mosquito markets always existed in our hearts.
Kaleb Bateman (00:15:35):
And it's been a great thing for us. Cuz I mean, the upside potential there is just, it's unbelievable. You know, I, in the, in the world today, people wanna know where their food comes from. They wanna make sure that it's safe, which we all know as agricultural producers that it is. But here we have a distinct advantage because we can bring people to our farm. You could, you could let 'em write the name they want on the air tag of that calf because we're gonna grow it here and it's gonna be under my control here the whole time.
Scott Sorrell (00:16:12):
Kaleb's a bright young man in the future of the dairies in good hands. And then he represents Lance and his side of the family very well. I'd like to now talk a little bit about the timeline. Right? This all started with your dad and so what's taken place between the the the day where your dad went to your mother and he said, Honey, I'm, I'm quitting school and I'm gonna got, I'm gonna buy a dairy
Steve Bateman (00:16:46):
Steve? Sure. Well, you know, when we, when moved down, we bought the farm and Masita the 400 acres, and in 1972 and we had to keep dad back at the farm to run the farm. So he sent me and Brad and my cousin Barry that was older, and I was just, I was a, it was between my, my sophomore and junior year in high school, and Brad's three years younger than me, so it was just kids out there on the desert running 400 acres. He come and helped us get it planted. But we got the farm going and as opportunities came, we added to the farm to where it's, you know, it's a 3,500-acre farm now there. And that first farm that we, we've bought and put together is doing well. And we, we've added a lot of grounds since then.
Steve Bateman (00:17:33):
But when we were, when we were just young married, we were signing on the dotted line, putting everything we had at stake to buy farms, you know, and as they come for selling available. And, so we, Dad was always one, he always wanted us to stay on the technology. You know, if you don't, if you're not growing and you're not keeping abreast of the technology, you're not gonna progress. So we always went to the Tula Farm show, which was one of our outings, and we'd go down and see what was going on in the business, the new technology, and everything. He was always wanting us to grow. And so we just, and we've done that. We've, we've used and embraced technology where it's made us better. And I I think that the kids, you know, they're even, you know, the next generation that technology's their thing and, and they'll take us in that direction continuing. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:18:23):
But, you know, I saw some pictures of your dad in his younger years. You look a lot like him. Has anybody ever said that before?
Steve Bateman (00:18:29):
Yeah.
Brad Bateman (00:18:31):
Steve Bateman (00:18:32):
Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:18:33):
Brad, can you add some of the timelines there? Kind of flesh that out for us a little more.
Brad Bateman (00:18:40):
Well, I, you know, like Steve said, we, we took advantage of opportunities as they came our way. And, you know, I, I don't know that we had a direct plan to you know, grow as much as we did. It's, I always joke and I say it's just the man plan, the man plan as you make it up and figure it out as you go. But those opportunities have come along and, and, the timeline from where we started and where we end or, or where we're at today, not where we ended. But today is, has been an amazing journey. And, a lot of that is just by taking advantage of opportunities, seeing needs that that, that we need to, we needed more farm ground one. We needed to milk more cows, especially as the next generation, as they come into the business. We've, we've got to be a little bit bigger and you know, have, have more resources and things for them to do and to help out with and to grow the business. And like Steve said, I'm, I'm proud of all of them. They're doing a great job. And in their areas, they're, they're so dedicated and, and good. And in a lot of ways, they're way better than we were, at that age. They've all got college degrees. They're better educated. They're, they're better looking. They're just
Scott Sorrell (00:20:15):
You married Well, yeah,
Brad Bateman (00:20:17):
Scott Sorrell (00:20:38):
Yeah. Can you guys kind of give us an overview of what the dairy looks like today? You know crop land how you're irrigating it number of cows who wants to start with
Steve Bateman (00:20:49):
That? I can start with that.
Jason Bateman (00:20:51):
So, you know, as, as you guys have been talking here, I'm, I'm sitting here thinking, I think we're at the place we were 20 years ago, 21 years ago when we built the hillside dairy. I feel that we're, to that point again, we got these boys that want in and DA's a great life. I think it, it's, it's great for us. It's something you can't go just start on your own anymore. And I think we're to the point where it's time to do it again as opportunities. We've always been opportunistic, as things change. But I think it's, it's, I'm feeling that, again, it's time to make the next step. Is that, is that 5,000 more? Is that, what is that gonna look like, the meat business? You know, that's a whole new twist on things. And, and I think there are so many opportunities. That's what's fun is we get everyone running with ideas and thinking of ways to build the business, but, it's, that's been fun and exciting.
Jason Bateman (00:21:51):
But you just look back as we had at our open house, he was there. We had our, our, that was the first tractor we had on that farm, and it was still there. And to see how technology is changed over these years, it, it, it, three things in life's never gone down, in price. It's a Ford truck, a John Deere tractor, and a yard of concrete. And so we're getting concerned because these are getting expensive. Yeah. And if we don't farm more land, we need more farmland for our cattle. We need more dairy for the family. So I'm excited. I think the future's bright.
Scott Sorrell (00:22:31):
Yeah. And do you have a feel for where that is that future gonna stay in Utah?
Jason Bateman (00:22:36):
You know, that's for the next generation to decide, you know, there, you come out here and you see all the corn and all the no pivots and all these, and you go home and our grass died three or four months ago,
Steve Bateman (00:22:49):
You know,
Jason Bateman (00:22:50):
Scott Sorrell (00:22:52):
Don't know. Yeah. So you mentioned Maita markets, as one of the expansions to your business on the additions to it, who would like to kind of talk if it's an overview of what the Maita markets are? Well,
Steve Bateman (00:23:03):
Well, if you, if you think about it, our main business is milk, second mate, third manure. You know, they're all commodities that come off the farm. We use the manure back on the farm. The milk goes to DFA, Dairy Farmers of America. They distribute it wherever it needs. Meat is a resource that we felt we needed to tap into because it's so much of what we do. And, we got to a point where we have killed plants that have disappeared because of urban grove apartment buildings, things like that. And where we used to take a lot of our cows, we had to do something. And we've heard a lot of other dairies say, We all ought to partner and get together and do something. Well, we had an opportunity with some, a place that we were already marketing meat through, and two brothers.
Steve Bateman (00:23:52):
And we, we had the chance, it's been two years come December, but we purchased Moeda Market. My son-in-law is running that business now. And it's, it's been good for us. We're, we're in the process of looking at the opportunity, to take a building that we have and turn it into another processing plant. And because we need to grow it because we're getting to the point where we have to go so far to haul our animals to market that if we could take the cold cows and, and turn that part of the business, take it in hand and, and the fats also. But we're, we're just trying to use our resources. And, you know, you never know we're, we're in the trucking business. We have an equipment company, but, you know, and where we have to grow to keep things moving forward, we will. Yeah. You know, that's, And, and our kids have that vision too. And, in our meetings we do, we have meetings where we brainstorm and talk about things that we could do in the future. That's one of the fun things is that the kids will have a little bit of a different vision than we will maybe, you know, we've brought it this far. It's gonna be cool to see where our kids want to take it. Yeah. And we hope it does, We hope it goes into our grandkids, great-grandkids,
Scott Sorrell (00:25:04):
You know. Now you mentioned the Maita market and moving your cattle through there. Do you also have a beef cattle operation that runs that for you?
Steve Bateman (00:25:14):
That's what Kaleb does.
Scott Sorrell (00:25:15):
That's what Kaleb does,
Steve Bateman (00:25:16):
Yeah. Okay. And his, his brother Preston, we haven't mentioned much about him, but he's kind of the one that heads up, the cows, you know? Yeah. The dairy. He runs the dairy and does an awfully good job. And Kaleb's over the beef right now.
Scott Sorrell (00:25:27):
Okay. And what percent of the beef cattle go through your market? And then how do you market, the rest?
Steve Bateman (00:25:34):
You know, we're, we're a small percent. They, that's why we've gotta put a new facility in because we've gotta, we've gotta take it in to hand to market as many as we can through because there's those that we send that we just send off to a, to JBS or wherever. We, send a semi-load about every other week and sometimes every week, depending on where we're at to jobs fat cattle. We just know that it would benefit our business better if we could market 'em ourselves. And that is growing. Yeah. You know if we, if we put a plant in, you know, we're doing, we're doing probably 30 a week, if we build a plant, we'd do it for 50 a day. you know, and, and, and throw a lot of room there for growing so that we, cuz you know, we have 20,000 animals on the farm and we're in the Milton meat in our business.
Scott Sorrell (00:26:22):
Right. And I think it's important to note that, the cattle that you're feeding there is the one dairy, so they're on your d your own
Steve Bateman (00:26:30):
Dairy cats. Right. Not on their own.
Scott Sorrell (00:26:31):
Yep. Yep. And the interesting thing, that I found is using the Charle on the jerseys, you know, my, my first job outta college I was doing nutrition work for a, a Jersey producer, and I had read somewhere that Jersey meat was the most tender and most flavorful meat that there is. So I got the idea that I'd work with this gentleman and we would feed out these jersey calves and market them. And that lasted about two rounds, I think. Cuz those, those, the guys didn't grow very fast, you know, and they didn't get very big. But those calves that you bred for Charle, look like beef cattle. I was very
Steve Bateman (00:27:09):
Impressed with. They do. And they grow just as fast as the Holstein Angus Cross. We have done a trial, we have done a trial with them, and, and they went right to head on some of the trials. The char gained a little bit more, but you know, and we're, we're crossing Angus Holstein, Holstein Wago, and Jersey and Charle. Okay. And we backed off on the Jersey Charle. We're trying to get it headed in the direction where we try to get more focused and, and keep it into, you know, like the Angus and the Charle. Now that's kind of where we're going with
Scott Sorrell (00:27:45):
It. And the way good you anticipate expanding that? Or are you gonna keep that
Steve Bateman (00:27:49):
Where that's at? It's working. That's kind of our flagship meat that we sell in the store. Okay. We, we hand pick 'em. Those are the ones that if you go in there and want to get a ribeye or you know New York or whatever, that we can consistently pick 'em and get really good steaks and, and it's growing. Yeah. The business is growing. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:28:07):
Do you anticipate expanding your, beef operations or will it expand as the dairy?
Steve Bateman (00:28:11):
Experience? We would like to get to the point where you know, instead of, like I said, just send 'em off to it to someone else to market 'em. And we want to do it ourselves, so we're just gonna grow it as we can. Yeah. Yeah. As it allows us to do it, you know?
Scott Sorrell (00:28:26):
Good stuff. You know, one of the things that I was impressed with was the robotic barn that you guys recently put in. I think it's built to hold what, 800 heads, You got 600 sew heads in there. Can you guys kind of who would like to talk about, you know, how that came about, the process that you went through in, deciding to put a robotic dairy on, on the farm?
Brad Bateman (00:28:51):
Yeah, I can, I can talk about that. I, you know, everybody has their version of how we came to make that decision, but many conversations of just being short, short of labor and can, can robots can they work especially on a larger scale. And, and so we, we traveled around, we looked at a lot and, and the more we looked at 'em, I, I was impressed. But still, we needed to prove that it could work and we could make it work. We've been about six months now milking in that, in that facility. And it's, it's right now it's working well. We've got the bugs worked out. Cows love it. They're the stress level for those cows in that, in that barn is so much less. Nobody is coming three times a day to move 'em and push 'em and get 'em, get 'em here and, and there.
Brad Bateman (00:29:53):
And we sort 'em, we sort 'em and lock 'em to breed 'em and treat 'em and take care of them. Then, the turnover rate there is considerably lower than at the big dairy somatic cell counts are lower. All of those, all of those good things. But I think overall, the decision was based upon whether can technology replaces some labor and can it, can it work and be profitable. And, and I think there's no doubt it works. Then, the overall numbers still need to, need to play out as we continue to fill the barn. We should have the barn full sometimes here in the next month or so. And then we'll see how many we can milk and push through there. And we, we haven't wanted to take cows from, from the big dairy and make that less, less efficient. So we're slowly growing into it, but we, we should have it full here, like I say, probably in, in November, December. And looking forward, to that. And then really drilling down into the numbers and seeing what they look like and, and decide from there, whether that's the direction we continue or we go with other technology, that that may be a, a rotary parlor or something different as, as we consider growth and, and moving forward. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:31:19):
So when you say looking at the numbers, you're talking about the capital investment in the
Brad Bateman (00:31:24):
Yeah. The cost, The cost is, is high. There's no doubt. You know, even the robot companies admit that it's, it's too, too much. It's too high. We'll see where that ends up. Technology as more generally the early adopters pay a higher price as that technology becomes more prevalent and there's, there are better ways to manufacture and, and the volume grows, I would think that we could maybe even see a softening in the price of robots. I think they need to be viable. You look at the cost of really any project today, and, it's astronomical. Then, the cost of everything, steel, cement, everything continues to, go up and stay up and it's, it, it makes it more difficult to find a good ROI on, on some of these projects. So, yeah, we'll see.
Scott Sorrell (00:32:24):
Yeah. Is that the only downside to the technology that you've identified so far?
Brad Bateman (00:32:30):
You know, working the bugs out early was, was a little bit of a challenge. Like everything, in all these projects, even when we started in our big barn, we had lots of little bugs to work, work out. But now that it's working, it's working great. And I would say maybe, the only barriers there might be the overall cost of the project per cow to make it work. It's, it's high, it's a higher cost than anything else out there, no doubt. Yeah. But you're prepaying for some of your labor. But what we're finding also is some of that labor is technical, and so the cost of technical labor is, is a little higher. And so these are all the things that we need to really prove and flush out and see where to see where everything ends up. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:33:17):
Yeah. The interesting thing that I found, and one of your comments today is it allows you to incrementally grow, whereas maybe you won't have a market for, you know, milk from 5,000 cows, but this, while as you find markets, you can, you can add more robots and more cows. So, Yeah. So I was gonna ask you a little bit about what role you see for robots in the future. My, guess is, you're gonna say it depends. You've got some evaluation to
Brad Bateman (00:33:40):
Do. It depends.
Steve Bateman (00:34:14):
Cuz the robots are home than the cows
Brad Bateman (00:34:17):
That's, that's where I see the advantage around the world. And, and as you see, you know, even in places in the world where I, I've never thought of a dairy industry in Sylvania, but it was interesting to talk to that guy and, and hear his, his soul on those problems that he has there in sve. And they're similar to us, but a robot is solving some of those problems of labor. And we think we have labor issues here. There are labor issues all around the world. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:34:48):
You know, I'd like to kind of dig into the research aspect of the robotic farm. I'm gonna wait until we get the lawn here and maybe he's got some input on that. We'll bring him in here a little bit later. But one thing I kind of wanna dig into now is consumers and they're beginning to have demands that perhaps they didn't have before. Right. When it comes to sustainability or animal welfare. And you know, I know part of your philosophy that I saw today is that if you take care of the cow, they'll take care of you. And so who would like to talk a little bit about what that means? And, then where did that come from? Who came up with that?
Steve Bateman (00:35:28):
Who did come up with that? Was that dad or?
Brad Bateman (00:35:31):
I thought it was grandma.
Steve Bateman (00:35:32):
Yeah. Well, I, I know I can give you a little history of, of our, of our family, you know, know, which was talked about before. My grandma was out there all the time. I remember when, when we were kids, my grandpa took care of the calves. A lot of people milked cows. Cuz back then you didn't hire a lot of that done in small farms. When I was a kid, it was only milking 130 cows. But I remember going out many times or not being out there and my grandma saying, You need to go kick the hay up to the cows. You know, she says, if, you know, if you take care of the cows? I don't know, did that come from grandma? That's what I thought. Yeah. But she was the one that was always on us kids, you know, to make, when we were just young kids, little kids.
Steve Bateman (00:36:14):
And she would, we would, we would go out and we'd clean the stalls. We all had jobs on the farm. We would, we would rake the stalls and we'd go out and she always said, No matter where you're at out there, make sure they got to feed, make sure it's pushed up, tear 'em, take care of them. And she loved the cows. My, you know, my grandpa, you know, I, I know that he would go out and he would take care of the animals. Grandma would milk the cows in the morning. And I know that she many times had been told that she milked 14 cows a day by hand while grandpa was out taking the cows and getting ready to do farm work. Does
Scott Sorrell (00:36:47):
Does she have a handshake? Huh? Does she have a firm handshake?
Steve Bateman (00:36:50):
Yeah. Grandma had tough hands. Yeah, she was, she was, And she was so awesome with us because she, she was out there in the farm yard all the time, it seemed like she was out there. I remember squirting the water on to keep the dust down in the yard in front of the milk barn, you know, in the olden days. And it was a little different than Yeah. You know, our, our farm is, is bigger and faster moving and it, you know, to be able to have those memories of your grandparents teaching you how important it is to take care of the animals and to work hard and, and you know, we say that we're in the Milton meat and manure business where we're really in the family business. Right.
Scott Sorrell (00:37:28):
I was gonna say that. Absolutely.
Jason Bateman (00:37:30):
We're in the
Steve Bateman (00:37:30):
People business and the people business. Yeah. We are. Yeah. You know, we have a lot of employees and you know, we have about 110 employees or so on, and their families are depending on our farm being a success. Right. And we take, gave pride in the employees whom we
Jason Bateman (00:37:44):
Have. So some of those employees have worked from when we went to Maita like Polo showed up on the scene like a year or two after we moved to Maita and
Scott Sorrell (00:37:55):
In the seventies,
Jason Bateman (00:37:56):
And here he just retired. Wow. He comes and helps breed on Thursday, but his sons have worked for us, and these people are like, the family does.
Steve Bateman (00:38:05):
Yeah. He, was my age when he came to the farm and he was just a young kid. And it's, you know, now he lives in the town with his family. Well, his kids are all raised too, but these are kinda like family to us. Good guy.
Scott Sorrell (00:38:20):
Good stuff. So how does the philosophy of taking care of the cow and they'll take care of you, how does manifest itself in the dairy today with how you take care of the cows, how you take care of the calves the facilities, those kinds of things?
Brad Bateman (00:38:35):
Well, I, I think there's probably for sure not a week goes by where in some employee training part of, of what we do there, where we talk about now this is what's best for you, but it might not be best for what might not be the best for the cow. Right. And we talk about that to the employees all the time when we walk through it. When you look at some of those protocols and some of the things that we do day to day, whether it's calf care or you know, heifer raising or milking, what, there's all those procedures and protocols that we do every day, and sometimes there's some drift and we always have to go back and say, Okay, now this is what's best for the cow. That means it's best for you because we all have a job because of these cows. And, it rings true. They, they understand that when you start talking about it in terms of what that means to them, really taking care of the cow,
Scott Sorrell (00:39:39):
You know, I'm sure that taking care of the cows also, making sure they get their appropriate nutrition and, and, and that's my cue to bring in lawn hall. Well, and welcome. It's good to see you here again. Great job today, by the way, at the virtual farm tour. Why don't you kind of give us all an overview of who lawn Haul is and what you do for Maita Dairy?
Laun Hall (00:40:00):
Okay. My, like, name is Laun Hall. I'm a nutritionist. I work with Bateman Maita Farms and have, have done for quite, several years. And yeah, I'm a dairy nutritionist. I went to the University of Arizona and Utah State for my degrees and currently live in Arizona.
Scott Sorrell (00:40:21):
Very well. Can you kind of give us some background on what your nutritional philosophies are and maybe start with the transition cows and then talk a little bit about lack, cheating cows?
Laun Hall (00:40:31):
Yeah. So the nutritional philosophy is, it, it varies from place to place, but it is to find what the dairy has, what feeds what, what management style and, and build the nutritional program that benefits those, that approach those cows. So the philosophy does depend on management. There's a very strong nutrition management interaction. But, yeah. And on transition cows, we try to get them to where when they are fresh and they don't have a huge difference to overcome in the composition of the diet. We found cows come in fresh and better, milk better. And having those essential nutrients delivered to them as GoLine has, has been an important part of that process.
Scott Sorrell (00:41:22):
Yeah. You, you were telling me before too as well that, that maybe your philosophy's a little more aggressive than most people. Right. And you're not using a lot of straw, maybe not using the Goldilocks, but again, back to make, making sure those cows are ready, to milk at their peak when they're done. Right.
Laun Hall (00:41:36):
Yeah. And a lot of that is experienced Batemans have had to try, the diets that are more typical back east that just has not resulted in the peaks that we typically like to suit.
Scott Sorrell (00:41:47):
Yeah. Now talking about the transition period, right? We, kind of talk about it as one period, but it's two very distinct periods, right? The animal has two distinctly different needs. So how do you manage that closeup cow or off cow versus that fresh cow? And what are some of the nutritional needs that you're, you're paying a lot of attention to, especially in that fresh cow?
Laun Hall (00:42:08):
Yeah, so to go back, they are their two completely different diets. One of 'em we're telling we're almost limiting intake with a negative decat approach and the closeups yet we want them to just take off running. And so there are differences. One we're trying is almost acidifying it a little bit, and the other one tends to be a more basic ratio. Try to regulate room and pH so they are fundamentally different. But on the same token, we want as few changes as possible. We want, we don't want them going from a 10% starch diet to a 26% starch diet overnight. We want to make sure that there's good biological bio biologically available calcium when they freshen so they can utilize that and take off running. They have very high demands for energy and calcium. Okay. As, as they freshen and climb that peak.
Scott Sorrell (00:43:03):
What about amino acids? Do you pay special attention to trying to fortify with amino acids during that period because their, intake is low, or I guess if you do that you gotta take something else out? It's, I guess it's always a balance, right?
Laun Hall (00:43:15):
It is. And so it's amino acids, but it's also metabolizable protein. So we have, we have goals for metabolizable protein and that's where a little more energy-dense diet works. You can get that mp and then we do, we, we target specifically lysine methionine, but we've also looked at his toine and some of the other branch chain amino acid, just making sure of that MP we're getting, getting what we need. And part of it is a work in progress.
Scott Sorrell (00:43:44):
Yeah. You know, I think the last time we talked when we were out there in Utah, you said that that you've been using reassure at that dairy. Maybe that's a better question, for Brad, but for over a decade. And I'm just kind of curious how did you decide to start using reassuring in your diets?
Brad Bateman (00:44:02):
Well, you know, Lon mentioned a decade. It's, it's been longer than that. I think. It, it's all a blur, but we through, through the time that we were feeding or not feeding, but involved with our RBS t we saw great gains in production and had thin cows through some of that period until we, adapted and, and overcame some of those net negative energy issues as, as we transitioned into a better feeding philosophy. We, we got a little bit of gain on those cows, but then as we were asked to go off it we saw fat cows and a lot of them and fatty liver syndrome and some of those issues that we were suffering, we started to lose a bunch of cows and Right. That's all I, at that time, was not as I guess as knowledgeable as I should have been. And, somebody said, Well, what about choline? You know, what about reassuring? And so we brought it in, we saw an immediate change. We, we saw immediate results. It
Scott Sorrell (00:45:21):
Was And what were those
Brad Bateman (00:45:22):
Results? It was wonderful. Well, we stopped having those fatty liver syndromes. Got it. And those cows transitioned on through without crashing and burning. And, and so right then and there we thought, hey, this is this is a product that we need to incorporate into our everyday feeding regimens. And so, so we did. And it, that's been quite a while ago. Yeah. Maybe 15 more years. I don't know. Okay. So that's when we were first first came to, to know that product. So,
Scott Sorrell (00:45:53):
You know, it's
Brad Bateman (00:45:54):
Thanks to you guys. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:45:56):
Scott Sorrell (00:46:49):
And then some more recent research that we've done is done with in utero programming. And by feeding the, the, the, the dam, the calves that are subsequently born are healthier, able to fight off disease better, and they'll grow about a 10th of a pound for head day more. So we continue to invest and it's got excited to share three new research studies one from University of Florida, one from Wisconsin, and one from Michigan State. Colleen's kind of gotten a wrap of being for problem cows. Those three data research points to the fact that high producing cows and cows that have very smooth transitions already also benefit from choline. So anyway, I didn't want to go to a commercial, but I guess I did. But anyway,
Brad Bateman (00:47:45):
Well, and, and you know, I would agree, we've we've incorporated into our, our everyday you know, close up fresh cow transition and we we're seeing amazing peaks at, in our robot barn. We have some cows that are, you know, four days in milk given 125 pounds of milk and you know, cows peaking over 200 pounds of, of milk a day. It's just, it's, it's phenomenal. Yeah. It, it's almost unbelievable to a certain degree to think of, of what these animals can do. And you know, when the genetics are there and everything falls in line, it, it's really amazing. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:48:28):
I can remember 10, 15 years ago saying, well, looking at that line of how cows keep producing more and more every year, and like, how, how long have we keep doing this? It keeps storm. So I have no idea. I'm not gonna predict anymore. Yeah. Uhlin, while I've got you here, wanted to talk one a little bit to you about the research facility there at the robotic farm and how you see using that as a nutritionist? Yeah, go ahead.
Laun Hall (00:48:53):
Yeah, I mean, there, there's tremendous opportunity there. I mean, even with this choline story, we know fresh cows mobilize a large amount of fatty acids and just keeping that liver functioning, we don't want to eliminate ketosis. We want to have it at an optimal level so that cows perform well. So what this lab does, it allows us to not just take a shoot side test in this area, but we can actually pull blood samples, get serum and measure beta hydroxybutyrate. As we talked about earlier, it's also a unique ability to have the precision and accuracy of a university and the reality of a dairy. We can have large numbers of experimental units that, that level, So not only to test new products and see how they work and see if those, those results are repeatable, but also on farm to say, Here's what we're seeing. Let's see if we can unlock why these cows under these weather conditions are in, are in this predicament and solve our problems quicker.
Scott Sorrell (00:49:56):
Now, are you gonna be pursuing research projects that you and the team have identified that you want to understand, you know, whether it's in a different management practice, different nutrient or something? Or do you see yourself contracting that out to other companies that may wanna do research there?
Laun Hall (00:50:13):
Well, and that's ultimately up to the Bateman's, but that, that is one of the things is, is how can it best benefit the Bateman will see the farm. Yeah. And I think there's opportunity for both some of the basic questions and some of the applied questions, but also having the ability to, to get measurable results with accuracy, that is, as far as I know, found nowhere else in the industry. Yeah. Right there on the farm. That's amazing. Yeah.
Brad Bateman (00:50:40):
Yeah. And I think there's a lot of questions that we have as to not only ingredients and feeding scenarios, but I, I think it goes beyond that. But there's a lot of information that we can gain for ourselves to make us better. We will look outside for some of that to, to bring money in to, to keep it sustainable. But at, at the end of the day, a lot of that information is going to benefit us as, as we dial in and, and drill down to what really makes sense for us as we go into some of these trials and tests and look at different ingredients that we may consider. And so that's the exciting part that's really exciting to think about what we could do with all of that. And so it's, yeah, it's really exciting.
Jason Bateman (00:51:40):
I think even on the farm side of things, if we can be running some, we farm, you know, we do a lot of BMR and different forages, but in our three-way blends and in these things, if we can, cuz in that robot barn in that controlled environment, which we don't have at the other dairy, then we can start saying, you know, this corn, this hybrid is giving us this results, starch, you know, digestibility of the, of the starch and all these new things. I think if we can drill down, it could really change the bottom line and this lab's gonna allow us to do some of that. I'm pretty excited about that part of
Laun Hall (00:52:15):
It.
Scott Sorrell (00:52:15):
Excellent. Juan, anything else you'd like to share with us relative to the nutritional programs there at at Masuda Dairy? Before we bring Steve back in
Laun Hall (00:52:25):
Just, just in, in agreement with what Jason said, just also being able to get real time results on the crops. Yeah. Knowing when the optimal time to harvest is, when to get the best starch, digestibility, vest yields, and then translating that into the cows. Excellent. Yeah. But that's,
Scott Sorrell (00:52:41):
That's good. Well, thanks for joining us. Thank you. You know, we were talking just a little bit about animal welfare. Let's talk a little bit about human welfare and your workers and some of the dynamics that go into the fact that you're in a pretty competitive labor market. Who wants to talk about some of those dynamics?
Brad Bateman (00:53:01):
Yeah, I can speak to that. It, you know, back to our motto, Scott, if we take care of the cows, they'll take care of us. It, it's the same with our employees, right? If we take care of our employees, they'll, they'll take care of us. They'll, they'll work hard and anything that we can do to make their job easier and better, And we talk a lot about technology and, and some of the modern advances that may be coming out, whether it be equipment or machinery or, or whatever. Anything that we can do to make them better and to be better is, is money well spent. We, we live in a very competitive labor market construction. A any of these guys can, can make more money by leaving us and going to construction. A lot of 'em love what they do.
Brad Bateman (00:53:56):
They love, they love working on the farm, working with the calves and the livestock and, and so forth. But at the end of the day, we have to be competitive and we offer housing and we do a, a few other things. We have fun Christmas parties and, you know, other things throughout the year and, and they appreciate that and that that's really one of the most important things we can do is understand what they truly need. Sometimes it's not money, sometimes it's other, it's other issues. It might be medical things, It may be more time with their families. And so we try to be very, very receptive and open to our employees as individuals and what their individual needs are. And that, that's probably one of the most important things that we can, can do as leadership and that we can also instill in our in our kids is you know, truly listen and, and, and hear what's being said and what's going on as, as we think about our employees. Mm-Hmm.
Scott Sorrell (00:55:06):
Jason Bateman (00:55:34):
Yes, thank you. That's a great question. You know, on our farm, we, you know, we adopt the technology. And so by auto steering and all this technology thing, we're literally saving hours and, and, and like it's 12% on our chemical bill by adopting RTK sub inch accuracy with the satellites, with the tractors, with the sprayers on all of this equipment. And, and this equipment is so expensive and the fuel is so expensive. Now, every hour matters, but, and, and we use a lot of genetically modified corn on our farm. And so the, cuz cuz we want this to be a viable business for our, our grandkids and our great grandkids and things. And so we take it very personal that we want this land to be better than when we showed up. When we're gone, When I'm gone. I want my kids to be this farm to be better.
Jason Bateman (00:56:34):
And so by doing what we're doing, the water safer, the wildlife safer we're getting by with less, less of those things. And, and so we, we double crop on our farm, like we said in the presentation. But, but the soil health, you know, we use way less fertilizer than we did five years ago. Way less fertilizer because we're focusing on soil health and, and, and we have some pretty tough dirt and some pretty tough water. But we've made great strides in that. And so we work very hard at recycling our water, our sand, our bedding, our fertilizer, you move using more compost and, and those kind of things has moved the farm. And, and so we're pretty excited that our goal, my goal before I I move on is 50 tons of feet off of every acre. We're three ton away from that right now.
Jason Bateman (00:57:34):
And so we're pretty excited we're gonna be able to achieve this goal. And it comes back to, to all of these things and the people, you know, we have a great agronomy team and, and, and we just always trying and doing different things and that's the fun of it, you know, is seeing can we actually do that? We've had, you know, this double cropping thing cuz we haven't had a hay farm, we haven't had a hayfield on our farm for 13 years now. Some of these have been corn on corn for 29 years, 28 years. And to see the soil and the crops getting better, it's, it's very satisfying that we are doing the right thing cuz we've done the wrong thing for a long time. And, and it's took, it's took a lot of these school of hard knocks to figure out the process and, and we're pretty excited what the future holds.
Scott Sorrell (00:58:26):
Yeah. You know, Brad was talking that piece, he was driving around yesterday, kind of envious of the soil that they've got here in Wisconsin, but it sounds like you guys are doing pretty well building up the soil back there in Utah. So I applauded to you for that. Thank you. That's nice job. Let's see, what else do I want to cover with you guys? Jason, is there anything else you want to talk? Well, you know, one of the things I wanted to ask was you want me to wrap it up? I don't want to wrap it up. I'm having heck of a good time over here. You guys just leave me alone.
Speaker 8 (00:58:55):
I a pricey look.
Scott Sorrell (00:59:02):
All right, I'll wrap it up. All right. Very well, gentlemen. This has been this has been a real treat. I've enjoyed every minute of it as we just talk, I I don't wanna stop, but I guess I've gotten a high sign that we will stop. One thing I'd like to do before we leave is half for each of you guys talk about success. You've obviously been successful as, as men, as fathers, as as dairyman. What kind of advice would you give to other dairyman out there that, that's listening to this? How do you build a successful life and a successful day? And Jason, let's start. Sure.
Jason Bateman (00:59:44):
You know what? I think if we enjoy what we do, you know, it's like Chan said the other, you, I should pay you to do this. He gets up at three in the morning and starts playing. We're running 24 hours a day and he says, I should pay you. And I said, Exactly, You should pay us cuz this is pretty fun. And I think, you know, working with family, we worked with my dad forever and that's the reward. And, and my take to the kids, we tell 'em all the time, How much is enough money? Cuz money ain't gonna make us happy. You know, it helps. We gotta be successful, we gotta pay the bills, we want to build the business. But when we're gone, you know, that ain't going with us. So hopefully we can have a lot of fun along the way and, and build a legacy that can go on. You know what, my dad, my mom started. Yeah. Hopefully that can go on.
Steve Bateman (01:00:33):
Yeah,
Scott Sorrell (01:00:33):
Yeah. Great answer. Appreciate that, Steve. I'm gonna toss the ball to you.
Steve Bateman (01:00:40):
You know, I, I had a friend that come and got on. He, he'd come out to the farm and he is from a farm family and their family isn't all together on the farm anymore. And he was out one day at the farm to see the robot dairy and he says, When you're harvesting, will you call me and let me know when you're harvesting? So I called him the other day, he come and climbed on with, on me with the tractor pushing pit, you know, when we're packing corn silage, we're doing the harvest now. And I took him over and let him ride with Brad on the chopper for a while. I took him up and we had a load, a load of cattle, and he was with me for two hours. He says, when he left to me, he shook my hand.
Steve Bateman (01:01:15):
He said, Steve, what an awesome thing you're doing here with your family. And I said, You know, we really enjoy it. He said, I just got back from Ireland for two weeks with my wife and he said I had more fun here in two hours than I had in two weeks in Ireland. And it, it's, you know, you've, you've gotta like what you're doing and we enjoy what we're doing out there. We, we want our kids to continue it. And I guess my advice is, I, I hear, you know, as we travel around the country and see other dairymen and stuff, a lot of dairymen don't have somebody succeed 'em and carry their family heritage on, you know, their kids have moved off and went somewhere. Make it possible for your kids. Start young, have a plan to get 'em in the business early on and keep 'em there because we're losing it. Yeah. You know, we're losing the farmers of the country and that's what I would say. We, we, my dad done everything he could do. My dad and my mom to keep us in the business. We're doing everything we can to keep our kids in the business and I hope our kids will bring the
Scott Sorrell (01:02:18):
Grandkids in. That's my advice. Yeah. If, if your family's doing something together, there's, there's a real synergy in there. Yeah. Great energy, synergy, whatever you wanna call it. Yeah. Thank you for that. I appreciate that. Brad, final words, can you top that?
Brad Bateman (01:02:35):
Well, you know, the question you asked that led up to this was what advice would you give to other dairyman? Well, I, you know, the advice that I would give to others and, and more specifically our sons as as they bring, come in and, and bring that next generation would, would be to not sweat the small stuff. Not to get caught up in some of those little daily disasters and problems and to see the bigger picture. Yeah. Because d daring is frustrating. There's always something broken, broken, breaking down. There's employees that aren't showing up. And, and sometimes I know it's stressful, but to take things in stride, look at the big picture, take it day by day and, and enjoy it because it's, it's a great, it's a great way of life and it's, and it can be a great business if it's ran as a business. It can be a great business and a great way of life. And to be able to work with the cows and family and the land, what a, what a blessing, what a, what a wonderful opportunity we've had. And I've enjoyed every minute of it.
Scott Sorrell (01:03:47):
Yeah. Well, thank you for that, guys. Listen, I want to thank you guys for joining me this afternoon. This has been, it's been a real treat. It's been fun. Yeah, it has. Thank you. So thank you. You know, and I'd also like to thank our loyal listeners for joining us. Once again, I hope you had as much fun as I did. I hope you learned as much as I did, and I hope to see you next time here to Real Sense Exchange, where it's always a happy hour and you're always among friends.
Speaker 9 (01:04:11):
We'd love to hear your comments or ideas for topics and guests. So please reach out via email to anh.marketing@balchem.com with any suggestions, and we'll work hard to add them to the schedule. Don't forget to leave a five-star rating on your way out. You can request your Real Science Exchange t-shirt in just a few easy steps, just like or subscribe to the Real Science Exchange. And send us a screenshot along with your address and t-shirt size to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Baches real science lecture series of webinars continues with ruminant-focused topics on the first Tuesday of every month. Monogastric focused topics on the second Tuesday of each month, and quarterly topics for the companion animal segment. Visit balchem.com/real science to see the latest schedule and to register for upcoming webinars.