SharkFarmerXM's podcast
Samuel Garcia from Tucson, AZ 7-1-24
[MUSIC] >> Welcome again to Shark Farmer Radio. Hey, I'm your host Rob Sharky. We're in the studio today just outside of Bradford, Illinois. Studio powered by Bex Hybrid. It's rocking and rolling today, isn't it? >> Oh my gosh, it started early. So we had equipment arrived to start working on the foundation for our new shed. That was exciting because we've been getting ready for that for a couple of weeks. I feel like, you know, waiting. You never know when those guys are actually going to show up because they're so busy. >> Yeah, the dozers. >> Oh my gosh, they rolled in today and then we've been hauling out. Are we beans? >> Yeah, soybeans. >> Soybeans are going out today. Some eyes have been going. Kids are mowing, running around. It's busy because it's a fantastic day on the farm. When it is July 1st and it's like 72 degrees and a nice breeze, I feel like it's not even Illinois. >> Yeah, I haven't checked with the elevator yet, but apparently the beans are light. I don't know if I've ever had light beans before. I remember when we put them in there, they were dryer than you wanted. But yeah, whatever. >> Well, at least it didn't spoil in the bin. That'd be worse. >> Yeah, we've had that before. No, they're coming out great, but yeah, light. I wonder how light. I should figure that out. All right, today we're going down to Tucson, Arizona. We're talking with Samuel Garcia. How you doing, Samuel? >> Doing well. Thank you. >> I think we all know where Tucson is, right? Because generally, we say, where is Tucson in a great state of Arizona? But Arizona, you're kind of limited on places where you got big cities. >> Yeah, we only got a couple Phoenix, Tucson. There you go. >> We fly into Phoenix a lot. We're familiar with Phoenix. It's not bad to look out the airport there and see a little topography, right? >> Yeah, this is the sand. Are you from Tucson originally? >> Well, I was born in a small border town near Mexico, which is called Douglas, Arizona. But grew up on both Mexico and U.S. So not from Tucson originally, but I've been here now quite a long time. >> Gotcha. Third generation rancher. So what was the type of ranch you grew up on? >> Cattle ranching. Yeah, we ranch on the Mexico side, about a 600-head operation. And the U.S. side, I grew up in a little bit bigger operation close to Benson, Arizona. >> Okay, so how does that work crossing over? Is it a difficult thing to get back and forth to the ranches? Or do you have that down? >> Well, you've got to have two sets of everything, right? So if you go down, we have horses that are always in Mexico and, you know, tack and everything else. But it is easy to cross the border back and forth. Especially now, there are programs where you can apply, and it's a faster way to come in, for example, global entry or centuries, so stuff like that, where you kind of skip the long lines. But there are times you have to wait in line for about three hours or so to cross. >> I wouldn't be able to get used to having my passport on me every day all day. >> What I'm wondering, is it like the toll roads where you got the little signal thing up there? Do they have you set up with that? >> It's a little more intense than that. You might get checked at the border, you know, get checked to see if you have any stuff that you're not supposed to bring in. And it could be just as simple as avocados or eggs or stuff that you might want to cross that. You think it's okay, but no, not everything crosses the border. >> You don't pack a lunch with you, then. >> That's what I'm thinking with doing the ranching. I don't know what you, you know, if you have like pharmaceuticals, I don't know. >> Hot shot knife. >> A hot shot? Any of that stuff gets you in trouble? >> You could get in trouble. In trouble in a way where, if you're bringing some stuff that is sold in Mexico, but not sold in the U.S. anymore, it's for the most part, they're just going to get away at the border. >> Gotcha. >> You do have to declare everything you come in, so they ask you at the border anything to declare, and you have to be truthful and say yes or no. >> You graduated from the University of Arizona at the degree in meat science first PhD in your family. Well, that's kind of my care, everybody proud? >> Yeah, yeah. It was actually just in California yesterday with a few cousins in San Diego, and he showed me off as a first PhD in the family, so that was awesome. >> That's awesome. What got you interested in meat science? >> Well, you know, growing up in ranching, you always want to stick to your traditions and your roots, and originally I thought I wanted to be a vet to go back to the farm and etc. But after a while, you know, I volunteered at our meat lab in Arizona, and I enjoyed that work. It was tough work, but it was rewarding, and I just kind of followed through, and my professor at the time kind of pushed me to go a little further, and I was glad I did it, so it was just something to be involved where I did not have to support 100 percent, you know, living off the ranch because we still have, you know, dad's pretty young, and mom's young, etc. So I didn't expect to mooch off of them for the rest of my life, you know. >> Does the University of Arizona, did it had a big ag school, a big meat science school? >> Well, the University of Arizona is our land grant university for the state. We've had better years where we've had more people involved in animal science, but over the years, you know, as you might know from other universities, we've lost a little bit of that traditional ag focus, but we still have some people that are involved in it, yes. >> Okay, all right. I'm trying, I'm struggling. I know, I know the mascot, but it's not coming to mind. I'm gonna guess it's, oh, it's a wild cat. >> A wild cat, come on, Robbie. >> What do you mean, come on, Robbie, you didn't know it? All right, today we're talking with Samuel Garcia from Tucson, Arizona, third generation rancor. We're gonna come back, we're gonna talk about him running a slaughterhouse, and all the things that come with that. We're gonna talk everything, hunting and all sorts of stuff. >> Right after the break. >> This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground where they connect landowners and farmers and hunters too, by the way. Go to commonground.io, that's commonground.io. All right, you got the podcast done for tomorrow? >> I do, actually. Isn't that fantastic? >> Nice, yeah. Couldn't be a roundtable a little bit. We got our old buddy Steve Pittstick from Apple Park, Illinois. >> We got Quentin Canalee. >> From out there in Nebraska. >> That's right. And we have Don Bierman. >> Yeah, for use from Effingham, Illinois. Quentin, he's like 20% flooded out there. >> Poor guy, I hate to see that happen. I mean, I don't know what's worse, the flooding or when it's so dry, things are curling and withering. They're both bad. >> Yeah, I saw some of that stuff from out of the east. Man, those guys, well, you know, when we talked with David Hula, he was saying about how his corn was so much under stress. Well, good night. Seeing some of that stuff like that reminds you of 2012. >> Yes, absolutely. >> Sounds so old. I still talk about 83 ever once in a while. >> Well, you know, you farmers have specific dates in mind. You can always bring up the three or four or five years that stick out in your mind, for sure. >> Yeah, 83, 85, 93 was wet. 2005, 2012. >> 2012, because of the amazing prices, everybody always says. >> Well, it was pretty dry. Anywho, tomorrow that will come out on sharkfarmer.com under the shark farmer podcast section. Today, however, we're talking with Samuel Garcia from Tucson, Illinois. He's a third-generational rancor. >> He's on Arizona. >> What did I say? >> Illinois, but that's okay. Everybody knew what you meant. >> Oh, actually Samuel, I'm sorry. I did, you know, sometimes you cross a line with offensive things. That might have been one of them. First in his family to get a PhD. Now, tell me about after you graduated, Samuel. Tell me about what the university wanted you to do. >> Well, you know, after I graduated with my PhD, university needed someone to help run the slaughterhouse or the Meets Lab, you know, that's known for many universities. So, the University of Arizona Meets Lab is what they wanted me to go ahead and run for a period of time until they hired someone. Well, they ended up hiring me after a small search. >> Funny how that works. >> So, when you walk in and you look at a Meet Lab, what are you looking at? Is this scientists all working on research or is this teaching people how to make cuts, you know, on different carcasses or what's involved in a Meet Lab? >> Well, there's a lot more than just scientists. There's people in the community that are wanting to learn. There are people who are trying to help, for example, establish a brand. There are people who are wanting to know more about their Meets in terms of quality or different attributes that they might be able to market. So, we're doing research, we're doing education, and we're doing, you know, extension work where we bring in other people who might be involved and need more education or who are just wanting to get started on a small operation or even big operations, for that matter. So, we do a lot of tours for people like chefs and other types of community groups that want to learn about the process and where the food comes from, etc. >> Are you actually slaughtering animals there at the university? >> Correct. Yes. Well, at the moment, we just received a pretty nice grant to redo our Meet Lab. So, we are completely refurbishing the whole thing. So, we will have a brand new Meet Lab in December or so. But for many years, before we started this renovation, yeah, we'd do about 1,000 or so beef lamb, pork, goat lamb. Those would be our number four, but then we would do off species like ostriches and bison and emu and others. >> Do you ever get like the protesters? I mean, they're people upset if they find out. >> You know, in a way, we did, but we are kind of in the close campus. So, they would set up at the outside portion of our campus. And because we can't really advertise and we can't compete with local business, we is just a word of mouth. So, every time the protesters sat out there, they unintentionally drove attention that we were there and our sales would go up. >> That's fantastic. >> That worked out perfect. >> I love that. >> Do you think the majority of students know that this is going on on their campus? Not just the slaughtering, but what you guys are doing? >> I would say a great majority know, but we do open the opportunity for tours that they need if they want to. And we're not hiding. We're just, you know, our university is 3,000 students, and so, so, you know, a great majority are not in animal science. >> Mm-hmm. So, is the focus on, I don't know, is it beef down there? Or is, I mean, I know you named a bunch of other stuff, but is the overall focus on beef? >> Yes. Beef is our number one species. And just being that the state is so dry, that's what we can grow. So, beef is what we do. >> How's that ostrich? How's that taste? >> It's dry. Very, very dry. >> That's going to take some seasoning, I think. >> There's, there's a lot of good cattle in this world, but we might as well eat them up. Is that what you're saying? >> Yeah, that's right. We, we make, there's a big ostrich festival in Scottsville, Arizona. We make patties for them, but we have to put about half pork in order for the patties to be good, so. >> Yeah. That's like everybody that gets a dearest salami. It's like, if you put 80 percent pork in, that's when it really tastes good. >> That's right. You can't grill an ostrich patty without a little pork. >> So, is this your full-time gig now? >> Well, that is my full-time gig. I work at the university, but I do a lot of other things. I still ranch. I own my own cattle. I do a little bit of a guided hunting in Mexico, and then I have a small meat shop that I'm opening up myself. So, I'm involved in a lot of different things related to meat production. >> The meat shop in Tucson? Is it? >> Tucson, Arizona, correct. >> Oh. Is there a lot of red tape involved in that? >> Well, there are some, but as long as you follow the rules and stay consistent, you can get them open. >> Yeah. You ever tried, like, bribing the officials? >> He's not from Illinois. >> No. >> Why are you winking at me, Samuel? >> You can do that before I wear it. >> Yes, yes, I can. We do have to run to break, but I'm excited when we come back, because I want to talk to you about the guided ranching, the mule deer down there, plus something I didn't know when we met you at the, what was it called, Emily, the meat? >> It was a reciprocal meat conference with the American Meat Science Association. >> Yeah. Where was it? Oklahoma City, right? >> Oklahoma City, yeah, a couple of weeks ago. >> That was a great meeting. >> Oh, my gosh. Met so many great people. >> Yeah, but Samuel taught me something about whitetails that I did not know before. >> We'll be back right after the break. [MUSIC] This segment is brought to you by Common Ground. Are you looking for an easy way to buy, sell, or lease your land? Well, check out Common Ground, where they connect landowners and farmers, and hunters too, by the way. Go to commonground.io, that's commonground.io. [MUSIC] You know, sometimes sleeping with your producer is confusing. >> Wow. >> We'll do whatever you want, dear. All right, it's time for America's favorite radio segment. Where in the world is Will? >> Today. >> Well, yeah, what do you have for us? >> Today I'm in Tucson. >> Uh-huh. >> Tucson, Arizona. City in and the county seat of Pima County, Arizona. >> Okay. >> Founded as a military fort by the Spanish, when Hugo O'Connor authorized the construction of Presidio San Augustin del Tucson in 1775. >> I'm assuming you put your debt name. >> No, I nailed it. It was included in the state of Sonora after Mexico gained independence from the Spanish Empire in 1821. >> Uh-huh. >> The United States acquired 29,670 square miles, which is the region of present day, southern Arizona, and southwestern New Mexico, from Mexico, under the Gadsden Purchase in 1853. >> Never heard, Lewis and Clark kind of shadowed that thing, didn't it? >> Yeah, and the Louisiana Purchase, just because we got it so cheap. >> Yeah. >> Okay. >> From 1877 to 1878, the area suffered a rash of stagecoach robberies. >> Ah, the Pinkertons. >> Yeah, most notable were two hold-ups committed by masked road agent William Whitney Brazleton. >> Okay. >> Brazleton held up two stages in the summer of 1878 near Point of Mountain Station, about 17 miles northwest of Tucson. John Klum of Tucson, of Tombstone, Arizona fame was one of the passengers. >> I don't remember him from the movie. >> Well, Tucson is also considered an influential center for Mariachi music in his home to a large number of Mariachi musicians and singers. The Tucson International Mariachi Conference hosted annually since 1982, involves several hundred Mariachi bands and folklorica dance troops during a three-day festival in April. >> Ah, music is always happy. >> Right. Tucson's also known nationally for its punk scene. Since the late '70s, punk subculture has flourished in Tucson at present. There are multiple punk bars downtown and house venues in the surrounding neighborhoods. >> Where do you find this stuff? >> Just my immense knowledge of the world when I visit these places. >> Uh-huh, okay. >> Tucson's the setting and filming location for multiple films including Revenge of the Nerds. >> Uh, really? >> Yeah. >> Okay. Can't buy me love, Major League, Tombstone, and Tin Cup. >> Tin Cup's an underrated movie. >> Yeah. >> I love Tombstone. I can pick up that movie at any point in the movie. I've seen it so many darn times. >> We're talking about Tin Cup, but here we are. Remember what I said at the beginning of the segment? Well... >> Well, John Denver is from Tucson, Arizona. >> John Denver is from Tucson, Arizona. >> Yep. >> I thought he was from West Virginia or Western Virginia. >> Um, I don't know. Says he's from Tucson, Arizona. >> Okay. >> Greg Gin, founder of Black Flag. It's from Tucson, Arizona. >> It's a wasp killer, isn't it? >> Yeah. Fantastic singer, member of the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, Linda Ronstadt, is from Tucson, Arizona. >> Okay. >> As well as Bartholomius Jain Bach, a Dutch American astronomer, teacher, and lecturer, best known for the discovery of Bach globules, which are small, densely dark clouds of interstellar gas and dust that can be seen silhouetted against brighter backgrounds. Bach suggested that these globules may be in the process of contracting before forming into stars. >> Okay. >> He's getting all sciency on us. >> Yeah, you're stretching on that one, man. >> He's from Tucson. >> Okay. All right. Well, thank you, Will. Now, I know, I don't even remember what he said. >> We're discussing globules to New York Farmer. >> We're talking with Samuel Garcia. Samuel, did you know all that stuff? >> I didn't know we had such a vibrant punk scene. >> Samuel's a third generation rancher. Also, we found out he's doing all sorts of stuff. He also runs the meat lab there at the-- where was it? That's at the University of Arizona, right? But your meat store, that's something independent. Is that correct? >> Correct. >> Okay. >> He's got a little entrepreneurial spirit going on. >> That's-- is that exciting or nerve-wracking? Starting your own thing? >> I think it's exciting. It's exciting. I mean, you got to go for it. Otherwise, you and I were going to do anything, right? >> Exactly. Tell me about the guided hunts. How long have you been doing that? >> Oh, I started that back in 2018 as a way to generate a little more revenue for the ranches in Mexico. >> And what do you hunt down there? So the main species that I hunt is Coos Whitetail. >> Okay. >> Say it again, Coos. How do you spell that? >> Whitetail, C-O-U-S-E. >> All right. Never heard of it. >> And it's a subspecies of Whitetail. They call it the "grade ghost" because it is a pretty hard hunt. People, once they start hunting it, they kind of fall in love with it, but it is a lot of glassing, so you spend a lot of time behind the binoculars looking for them. And once you find them, you've got to figure out a plan to get close enough to shoot at them, unless you're really good and can shoot long distances. But most people take them at 300 or 500 yards, but then there are some people that can shoot 1,100 or so. >> That's a poke. Are they compared to a, let's say, Midwest, Whitetail, bigger, smaller, or what are they? They're a lot smaller. A lot smaller inside. They're 110, 120 pounds. >> Oh, wow. Yeah, much smaller. Yeah. So you're not sitting in a blind hunting these. You're more like stalking? >> Yes. You're actually, you set up on a small hill if you have it, and then you're just looking at hillsides for the whole day. And there are times that you're there, and you've been there for two, three hours. There's nothing. And all of a sudden, there's a deer in the middle of the hill. Because they can blend in so well with the environment. >> Yeah. How rough is that? The baby's sitting a bunch of whiny hunters. Believe me, I know. >> It's really not that bad when you have beer and tequila involved. [laughter] >> Now, it's an early and late hunt. So we get up pretty early. We get a pack lunch, and we spend the whole day out hunting looking for these deer. But most of the activity is from, I would say, 7 a.m. As soon as the sun comes up to about 10 a.m. And it's kind of slow after that until about five o'clock, right before the sun comes down. >> Got you. Samuel, was there a place online? People can find you if they want to reach out to you? >> Oof. No, but I give you my cell phone number. I don't want to give it out to everyone. >> No, we don't want to do that. I suppose that they googled you in the Arizona, wherever you go to school. Where was it? University of Arizona? They did find you. >> Yeah, yeah. So they can look up Samuel Garcia and I'll come up, yes. The University of Arizona and I'll come up. >> Got you. >> I don't have a dedicated page to my thing because it is just so many tags to have available. >> Yeah, no. If they want to find you, they'll find you. Samuel, thank you so very much. Everybody else, we'll catch you next time. ♪ Wake up ♪