S2 Ep 09 Ranchers Connecting Ranchers Program in Hawaii

Aloha and thank you for tuning in to another episode of Livestock Walaʻau! In this episode we will be talking with Kanoe Schutte, who is the Hawaii Auditor for Rancher Connecting Ranchers Program. Listen in to learn more about RCR and how if may benefit your livestock business. 

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• Rancher Connecting Ranchers: https://www.ranchersconnectingranchers.com
• FB: https://www.facebook.com/VerifyRCR

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Transcript

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Shannon Sand: 0:14

Aloha Today's episode is brought to you by the Western extension Risk Management Education Center rasam USDA NIFA and the University of Hawaii College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resources and the livestock extension group.

Melelani Oshiro: 0:29

Aloha welcome to the livestock walaau a podcast aims to provide educational support information, guidance and outreach to our livestock stakeholders in Hawaii. We are your host Mele Oshiro and Shannon Sand. And today, we're gonna be talking about a program called RCR ranchers connecting ranches with Kanoe Schutte thank you so much, Conroy for joining us today. She is born and raised on Hawaii Island and her and her family and herself, of course, has been part of the ranching community for generations. I can't even say how many generations can I could spend generations. I shows you that current the current auditor farseer program here in Hawaii. So thank you for joining us today. Kanoe.

Kanoe Schutte: 1:10

Hi, thank you guys. So I of course, I was born and raised here. I'm a third generation rancher. I grew up ranching and after I graduated high school, you know, I kind of took a turn and I really took an interest in the medical field. Oh, so currently right now I am in nursing school. I am taking classes at u h Hilo. are actually you ah Paloma Nui, um, I, I love doing both, you know, and I love coming

Shannon Sand: 1:43

as always, and you can't do both. You know, we need medical people as much as we need fit. You can do both. I was like that's even better. Yeah.

Unknown: 1:54

In November, I will be headed to Texas. I am gonna do an AI and palpation ultrasound school. They're awesome. I'll be up there in November. And other than that, I love the life.

Melelani Oshiro: 2:10

Yeah. And the busy life. It is right. Yeah, very busy. Yeah. Sounds

Shannon Sand: 2:15

like it was like that sounds like really excited. Yeah. So outside

Melelani Oshiro: 2:19

of going to school and helping on the ranch and doing everything else. You also are part of the RCR programmer ranches connecting ranchers you want to share with us about what the program is? And

Unknown: 2:29

yes, of course. So I am the program manager of Hawaii for ranchers connecting ranchers. Our main company is in California. And I have a wonderful boss, Jennifer, her and her father came up with the program. And I got introduced to this program by my dad guy shootie. He kind of turned everything over to me. And I never really had an interest. You know, like I said, before the cattle until you know, he taught us everything we know you know about cattle, and then it got a little bit deeper. So he taught us more about genetics and type of breeds and you know, different things that we could improve in our own herd ourselves and then implement that into all the cattle ranchers here in Hawaii as well. So ranchers connecting ranchers is a program that offers a verification. So you can you can be verified in USDA programs, you do get verified for source and age verification cattle, you also get verified in a natural program. So what that does is it adds value to your hurt. So, you know, whether you are raising cattle from when they're born until or you're raising stalkers, or you know, finished cattle and stuff, you can get more money for your animal. Oh, well, I mean, who doesn't like more money?

Shannon Sand: 4:00

Right? Exactly. Yeah, it's always nice. Yeah.

Unknown: 4:05

So I go and I meet with different producers that are interested in the program. We do have some competitors. A lot of people are familiar with IMI or gap. They are a part of the same little Hui that is also the same as you know, RCR. With RCR, I would say I gained a lot of friends and you know, whether they're older and whether they are, they're younger, and I get to meet a lot of different people and I get to learn about how they work their cattle and how they do things and you know, what kind of protocols that they follow, and then I you know, give them some advice of hey, let's try and do this and let's put you on a program and let's get you you know, a little bit more money for your animals, you know, and while you are, you know, taking your time and putting in your Blood Sweat Tears, you know Layton dates, long days, all of that good stuff. You know, rewarding them for raising the perfect animal. Nice.

Melelani Oshiro: 5:09

I think that's a good point, because I don't think everybody realizes how much work goes into sometimes on the backside of producing these animals, right. And so they don't always get credited for those types of things, which is important for them, for a producer to realize that there are you can you can get credited for those types of things. Yeah, yes. Very good.

Shannon Sand: 5:29

And those the third party certifications, like RCR, which is what I'm going to assume it is, and I was like, it does add a lot of value to it, because it gives that extra extra little like stamp of approval, or like, words today are not my, like an extra little certification along the way as that animal goes through the process of the the industry. So um, like it does, it does add value to it for the rancher and stuff, I think that they definitely could do a lot. So you know, yes.

Unknown: 6:01

So I took over ranches connecting ranchers from my dad, it's been about four years now. And we started implementing, you know, different protocols to other producers or other ranchers. And we can influence them, you know, to try a different vaccination protocol, we also implement them on a feed program. So it makes it easier for you know, buyers around the whole island, you know, no matter where you go a lot easier for when they do get shipped. So then they become feedbunk. Verified, that's also another verification that and it just like I said, you know, I just helps out the buyers and helps them that their cattle won't lose their shrink on the boat. And they know how to, they know what food is.

Melelani Oshiro: 6:51

Yeah, right. Yeah, important, right for your buyers, because you have consistency and then just complete mess across your whole herd, right? You want everybody to kind of be in that same standard, you just, you're able to kind of group things together a little bit easier. And you know,

Shannon Sand: 7:06

makes everything more uniform. Yeah. Uniform noise. Yeah. And, yeah, just more uniform product across the board. It just increases your chances of having a premium for that. Yeah,

Melelani Oshiro: 7:19

yeah. Yeah, very, very important. I think to to have them accustomed to that feed, going across there in that shipment is a big thing for them to get accustomed to. So yeah. So if a rancher wants to be part of your program, then are there certain requirements? I mean, you said that there's different verifications throughout the program? So can you want to talk a little bit about what's required? Or what what if they want to get involved? What should they do?

Unknown: 7:46

Yeah. Um, so along with the program, I do a tracking side of the program. So we do have a lot of ranchers that aren't so tech savvy, know how to delete or backspace or have, you know, a lot of older ranchers that they don't really know how to keep track of their stuff besides a notebook or whether they just learned how to keep it in their phone and their notes and stuff. So what I do is, I will follow my producer around and they'll call me up and say, Hey, can I we're going to brand this weekend, or hey, can I, I'm going to AI this weekend, or, you know, whatever the case may be, and I'll go and I'll start to track all of that. Some of them only want to do the grass fat side, and only the stalker side. So they get put on another branch of our car, the side that wants to sell we not so the program is it's not picky, but it does favor a genetic more than the other, which is Angus, anything like Angus, Red Angus, all that good stuff. So unless you have those good genetics, and you know, when I come and do the field field audit, I will, you know, just look through the herd. And I'll just give you recommendations like, hey, no, this animal doesn't fall in the program, but you still get a good price for it. But let's try and stick to more of a Black Angus bull or let's try and stick to, you know, a Red Angus bull or, you know, what do you think about removing this cow from your herd? You know, just so you do get that premium price? Right, right. As far as as your question, anybody that can join it? Yeah, anybody can join it. It just depends on what you want as a producer for your cattle and your herd.

Melelani Oshiro: 9:44

So it's not just for folks that are wanting to export animals out of the state. If they're maintaining a grass finish herd here, they can still be part of the program.

Unknown: 9:52

Yes. So I don't only do the audits here in Hawaii, I'd have producers in mind We have producers and CO E. And I have about 127 producers, that's all on the program. And half of them only do finish cattle, which is okay. But they do have that sort of, you know, certification. And they do have that paper background and all of their, they do have all their paper background and their tracking for their cattle that can follow them, whether it's to the slaughterhouse or whether it's to the next person. Okay.

Melelani Oshiro: 10:32

I think Shannon and I've done a couple of podcasts who talking about record keeping, because I think Shannon's? Yeah, from Florida, where she comes from, and from here, everywhere, you know, record keeping is not always on the top priority of everybody's list. And I tell you what, like, it's really important, even like you said, some folks are not used to using the technology that we have, if you have a phone or whatever, but just having a book, I'm proud of the paper and the pencil, it's like, that's a record, right. And like when you someone like you and they want to come into a program, and you come and be like, Wow, how many animals do you have? You know, some folks can't even answer that sometimes, you know, and that, to me is like very important because not just for breeding and you know, the health of your herd. But if something happens, there's some tragedies and a fire. You can't even go and apply for like some kind of program because you don't know. Um, yeah, you don't know. So record keeping is so important. Yeah, even if it's just

Shannon Sand: 11:27

in a notebook. I do think that like, that's always helpful. Yeah,

Unknown: 11:32

sometimes I have to go back to the old school and I have used and in the paper, and it just processes easier. Yeah.

Melelani Oshiro: 11:40

Yeah. It's so nice. It's what works, right?

Shannon Sand: 11:42

Yeah. Yeah, exactly. So it sounds like there's a couple of different routes you can take within RCR, including like local, local finished beef, like you said, so I'm just I'm curious about kind of the, the differences and like, is one more difficult than the other to get for your RCR certification? Or? I don't know, I feel like I have a lot of questions in my head going on right now.

Unknown: 12:12

It's actually all the same, the audit is the same, there is no audit or checklist that you do have to fill out. The only thing when I do come into your field audit, you know, I will take a look, if you do have, of course it's a natural program. So there is no hormones, no antibiotics, no blended feeds, no cedars, literalized, all of that good stuff. So there is parts where I will have to check and some of my producers that choose the tracking side, they do AI's so of course, they do have hormones, they do have the cedar and they do have the little lace. So they'll follow a different category, although their calf isn't getting the hormones, the cow still gets the hormones. So I, what I tell my producers is I don't care about how much cows you have, I do, I do care about how much cows you have. But I care about the calf that it produced, as long as that baby raises 100% on your property, no hormones, no antibiotics, none of that good stuff, you know, you will get your premium price.

Melelani Oshiro: 13:25

So what I guess is how long is the process? And if someone wants to get part in part of the verification process, is that along? How long does that take for them to get their operation under the program.

Unknown: 13:37

Um, so the process starts with an application. So you'll just fill out an application and it just gives me kind of a little template of getting to know you, you know, know the producer and know the rancher get a, you know, a an idea of how much cattle you know you're raising where your properties are, you know, where your pastures are, and you give me a little window of your calving dates. But after your application, you can email it, everybody just drops it off my house everybody knows. After the application, I'll go and schedule your on site checklists with COVID it made it a little harder. I had to go off of pictures I had to go off of zoom meetings or I had to go off of facetimes which now it's a lot easier so now that I can travel to a walker not a wall mount a little easier that I can travel to Maui and kawaii so I can be on site and do it now.

Shannon Sand: 14:45

Yeah, I would imagine that's a lot easier than Yeah. Yeah,

Melelani Oshiro: 14:50

I mean FaceTime and zoom is great, but it's not always the same right? Especially when you're trying to evaluate animals it's very difficult

Unknown: 14:57

to mirror seem closer than they appear. Yeah.

Shannon Sand: 15:04

If you get someone I mean, like not everybody can, like, honestly, sometimes I have a hard time flipping my camera when I'm FaceTiming my family back or something to show them back. I'm like, yeah, and

Unknown: 15:15

half the time, you know, there's no service. So wholesaling. Yeah, yeah, yeah.

Melelani Oshiro: 15:22

So you you're statewide then you're as an auditor, you have statewide responsibilities. Yes.

Shannon Sand: 15:28

So does part of that include because I feel like that's a discussion that we've had a lot lately like the Powell Honda's and different things is I'm gonna go off topic here a second is Oh, help me with words. Mele?

Unknown: 15:40

I don't know what you're trying to say.

Shannon Sand: 15:43

Is like, animal handling animal. Oh, yeah. Those like, is that part of the process? Is that included in part of the certification is some like animal welfare training or whatever? Because I feel like, yeah, those seem to be buzzwords that are going around a lot lately. I mean, they've been around for years, but it seems to become seems to be on another round where like, It's, people are talking about it a lot. So yeah,

Unknown: 16:07

yes. And no, it it's not a part of the program, but it is a part of the program. And it just kind of depends. Yeah.

Melelani Oshiro: 16:15

I think that's important. Because like being the be QA coordinator in the states to like, I know, you guys are all be QA because you guys came to the certification when our training, but that's another I mean, on the consumers view of things, right? Yeah, being a part of these third party certifications, the RCR program or anything else, it's, it has, you know, with the beat QA stuff, it has increased their trust and an ability, you know, to understand the beef production, and just everything that goes into it. So I think it's important when you have these things, and sometimes it does put a little bit better view on the producers, because, you know, not not to say that they're not doing what they should be doing regardless, they are but then just being part of those types of certifications, you know, increases the consumer perception of

Shannon Sand: 17:05

the production process,

Unknown: 17:06

ya know? Right, right. Yeah. Very good. Well,

Melelani Oshiro: 17:11

is there anything else you want to share about the program?

Unknown: 17:14

Um, so there is there is an annual fee. So most programs they do 18 months are 16 months. So we're a 12 month program. It Expires in one year after you sign up and you'll get a letter of certification, you'll get you know, certificates for your cattle that are audited. A lot of people do ask, Hey, if you audited my cattle in 2020, and they are almost 30 months, and my program is expired, are those cattle still covered? Yes, they are still covered, because I did see them, you know, back in 2020, when you your program was was current. And you can still take the animal to the sell barn, whether it's the slaughterhouse or you know, wherever they may go with their animals and that's one of the biggest questions I do get. Hey, you know, I raised out this animal a year and a half later or two years later or two and a half years later. Is my is my certification still valid? Yes.

Melelani Oshiro: 18:26

So the new annual fee would be for additional animals in other words into into the program that is that what the

Unknown: 18:33

fees um, so your Yeah, your annual fee is basically the same you don't pay anything less you don't pay anything more you don't get deducted or you don't get what is the word I'm looking for? penalized? Yeah, you don't get penalized for you know, if you are expired and you want to get back on or if you decide I'm going to keep cattle this year and next year I'm going to sell again so I'll renew my program. You can renew it anytime you know it's not you have to sign up a year later. There is different prices for producers so we changed this only because a lot of our producers here are hobby herds and you know some people bring us two calves a year or you know five calves a year or even one Kathal year and we change the pricing so pricing you know basically varies of how much hedge you have.

Shannon Sand: 19:35

That makes sense. So does that does that fee include like you coming out to do the auditing every year basically and helping them like setup and make sure all their certification and their their protocol, I think is the terminology I'm looking for. Is like kind of in order and ready to go.

Unknown: 19:51

The only time RCR does charge for traveling is if I have to fly to Maui or Kauai. So that gets inputted into To the cost of their audit. Anything here, so if you want to do any of the tracking, it's a little different. So I will be subcontracted out from RCR. And then the tracking will come separately on you can

Shannon Sand: 20:16

help people that need help with like setting up some of that stuff them and Okay.

Unknown: 20:21

Yeah. But as long as you know, if you're a part of this is this is where it gets tricky. When, say you sell to a buyer, or you sell to livestock services, which is my dad, guy, shooty. You sell to him, you want me to do all the paperwork. I do all the paperwork for the producer, no matter what. It's anything outside. That's additional, that's where the tracking will be different.

Melelani Oshiro: 20:54

Well, it sounds like a very beneficial program for folks here. And I'm glad that you were able to come on to share about it because I don't know that everyone really knows what RCR is, you know, I didn't know it was here. And I saw, I think a post of yours. And I was like, Wait, what's this? And then so I said, well, we need to have her come on and talk about the program. Because I think it's important. You know, we have folks that, like you said, have one two animals and others that have 234 100 animals that, you know, are needing to be able to have some help and guidance on certain things. So I think that's very important for them. Yeah. Yeah. So thank you, Shannon, did you have anything else to ask knowing

Unknown: 21:36

that that I can think of,

Shannon Sand: 21:37

is there anything we missed? Noi?

Unknown: 21:40

Um, I don't think so. But let's talk cattle. Yeah, yeah.

Melelani Oshiro: 21:46

I think that's an you know, and I think so, for those that are listening at this time, you know, we, if you don't know who can always that is? Yes, he's a buyer and shipper. So is another person that, you know, I think is a good resource if you're wanting to get into the business of exporting animals, or cattle, especially out of the state, because, as Shannon mentioned, the uniformity of the animals going out. Yeah, I think that's the important part, you know, understanding that right, what the buyers and shippers want to and what the guys on the other end want, right? Because otherwise, nobody's gonna want your cattle.

Shannon Sand: 22:24

Right? Well, and I mean, because we are, you know, so physically isolated. Like, there are like minimum amounts that I'm making assumptions here. crinoids. So correct me if I'm wrong, what little I know about it. I was like, you know, there are minimum amounts, you need to ship, right. So you got to make it worth it for anybody's wild, right. So I know, a lot of times people will pull together and ship ship loads and stuff as well. So that uniformity across that which I'm, which is seems like part of what your program is for, you know, really, I would imagine, it really helps, you know, yeah, that's,

Unknown: 22:58

that's the perfect word to use is, you know, uniform. And, you know, what my dad does here, when he does ship, it's, everything is separated, you know, whether it's four ways or five ways or six ways. And he's, I always tell him, he's my walking Google, and he's knowledgeable, and, you know, anything experiential

Shannon Sand: 23:18

knowledge from like, family and friends and stuff. Very valuable. There's, there's

Unknown: 23:23

a lot of people that just pull up and are my friends too. And, you know, they'll come and ask him for advice of, you know, MBA and cattle, and he's, he's a really great resource for that. Yeah.

Shannon Sand: 23:36

Well, you are, too. It sounds like

Melelani Oshiro: 23:39

we'll have to pull that in on on a podcast. I was like, I don't know if I'd be able to get him on a podcast. I'm like, but I pretty sure can. I will come on, but I don't know that. He will really like it. Right. Okay. Yeah. We'll have to get him on nice. Sure. Yeah. Well, thank you so much for joining us today. Crinoid. Thank

Unknown: 23:57

you so much for having me.

Shannon Sand: 23:59

I really appreciated it. Yeah. Yes. Thank you so much. So all right. We hope our listeners found this informative, and it'll be useful to their herd management plans in the future. Also, if you have not already done so please be sure to fill out our feedback fest to let us know your thoughts about this podcast. We will be starting a new round soon. So we know what you'd like to hear more of and mele make.

Melelani Oshiro: 24:24

Yeah, make sure to follow us on our social media pages the livestock Fallout and I'm stalking extension group. If you haven't already, be sure to visit the UHD CTAHR Extension website and our YouTube channel listed in the show notes. For

Shannon Sand: 24:36

additional information about this topic, see the show notes of the podcast in the description box of our YouTube page. Thanks for listening to the livestock vol owl. And before we go show some love for your favorite podcasts. That's us by the way by leaving us a review on Apple podcasts or anywhere you're listening to this and then stay tuned for next month's episode.

Melelani Oshiro: 24:54

Thanks again to our sponsors the Western extension Risk Management Education Center, Western Regional I Agricultural distress Assistance Program USDA NIFA, the livestock extension group, and CTAHR alchohol Mahalo for listening