Podcast Ep. 14: The George Miller Scholarship

A very special episode of The Select Sires Podcast today as we discuss an exciting opportunity for young dairy professionals, paying tribute to a man who advanced the dairy industry by leaps and bounds in his lifetime, and he called Select Sires home in that time as well. George Miller is a legend in our industry. He sadly passed away in early 2021 at the age of 94, but his legacy lives on and will continue to do so.

I’m Joel Penhorwood and cohost Leslie Maurice and I are talking the new George Miller Scholarship with Vice President of Dairy Cattle Breeding at Select Sires, Jeff Ziegler, joined alongside Eric Olstad of Zoetis, both members of the George Miller Scholarship committee.

Now though our main focus on this podcast is the George Miller Scholarship, we will be hearing about the NxGEN program and how it’s playing a role in that. So a nice time to talk about NxGEN with Holstein Sire Analyst Jordan Siemers on the line with us. Jordan, thanks for being here.

Jordan Siemers

Hey, hey, absolutely Joel.

Joel Penhorwood 

Jordan, let’s start with an overview of NxGEN.

Jordan Siemers

NxGEN’s an exciting program right now for Select Sires. Obviously, the background of it, Joel, is to get our customer-owners access to our best bulls earlier, while also providing Select Sires some genetic protection on our elite investments. The program has been up and rolling now, we have calves on the ground, people flushing early heifers and so far, so good. Very excited about this new program.

Joel Penhorwood 

Now there are some frequently asked questions we hear about. Let’s talk those, starting with what all does becoming a member entail?

Jordan Siemers

Great question, Joel. Membership entails signing up first with your local rep. There’s an application on the website. Once we approve that application, we will send a contract. In that contract, you can read the terms and conditions of the program. One of the frequently asked questions Joel is, “Hey, this $300 membership fee. Is that a one-time fee, is that an annual fee?” It’s a one-time fee. It’s just to get your contract rolling and just a one-time fee.

What membership allows, Joel, is access to these elite bulls. It allows you to get bulls before allocation amongst membership would start on normal bulls. So, there are bulls that you may want to have access to. Buy away. 

Joel Penhorwood 

Jordan, how often are bulls added to the program?

Jordan Siemers

Yeah, Joel, so we release bulls monthly. Another frequently asked question is when do bulls come out of NxGEN? And that is those bulls that come out of NxGEN are reviewed at every proof, those triannual proofs, when bulls come out. But bulls get added in monthly, so watch your emails.

Joel Penhorwood 

And Jordan as we wrap it up, I know we’ve talked to several dairymen taking advantage of NxGEN and loving their results so far. I think some really positive things coming out of this program.

Jordan Siemers

Yeah, we’ve had awesome success across the country, coast to coast, north to south, it’s been a wonderful program to have our producers reap some of the rewards. We’ve been very excited for the success of the program and I would say a lot of our customers have been excited about it as well.

Joel Penhorwood 

Jordan Siemers, Holstein sire analyst with Select Sires joining us. Thanks Jordan.

Jordan Siemers

Thank you, Joel.

Joel Penhorwood

More on NxGEN, and other exciting programs from Select Sires, online at www.selectsires.com.

Before we though get started want to thank you all for joining us here today for this great discussion, not only on the life and impact of George Miller, but also remembering him through the George Miller Scholarship Fund, and talking a little bit about the progressive genetics here on display and in use through Select Sires and in the dairy industry. And Leslie, would you have anything to add before we get started with introductions?

Leslie Maurice 

No, not at all. I'm really excited about today's topic. I think that one of the best things about Select Sires is our true cooperative spirit. And the topic that we're going to talk about today and the people that we have with us today on our podcast are going to help us really highlight that true cooperative spirit and that we're here to support our industry and the future of it. So, looking forward to the talk today.

Joel Penhorwood 

Absolutely, and maybe Jeff Ziegler here to my right can help us introduce our guest a little bit today. So, Jeff Ziegler, if you don't mind introducing yourself.

Jeff Ziegler 

Well, thanks, Joel. Yes, Jeff Ziegler, vice president of dairy cattle breeding, and a large, loud and sincere supporter of what Mr. Miller did for this company for years and his legacy continues.

Joel Penhorwood 

And any words to help introduce our guest today?

Jeff Ziegler 

Well, we have actually, Joel, formed a committee of really good people around the industry and former employees of this company that have been impacted by George Miller and knew what George Miller meant to the dairy industry, the A.I. industry in particular. One of those is Eric Olstad. Eric was a former colleague of ours at Select Sires, is still a colleague, I call him, even though he's with Zoetis today, but, again, is a true disciple of what the dairy industry means, the history behind it all and we thought Eric is an outstanding person to add to the credibility of what we're trying to accomplish with the Miller scholarship.

Joel Penhorwood 

Eric Olstad, thank you very much for joining us here today. And welcome to The Select Sires podcast.

Eric Olstad 

Well, thank you, Joel, Jeff, Leslie, it's certainly an honor to be invited and to be part of this discussion. Maybe a little background on myself, as Jeff alluded to. I did spend just short of 15 years in the Select Sires family and I think I'll hopefully always consider myself an honorary member of that proud fraternity. Certainly, had a huge impact on my career in my life. Started at East Central Select Sires, now CentralStar, on January 1 of 2000. So, I was kind of a millennial baby, as Dave Thorbahn put it to me when that happened, and worked as director of sales and marketing in that area and with a great team of people and many mentors, and one of those certainly was George Miller, and I'll maybe get to that a little later. I'll just add that when Jeff reached out to me to be part of this committee, it certainly is an honor when you think about kind of aligning yourself with the likes of Jeff Ziegler and Lyle Kruse and John Schouten and Dr. Katharine Knowlton, you know, for a guy like me to be sitting at the table or in emails with that type of group is certainly quite a situation and not one that I take lightly. So, I look forward to the discussion with you folks here today.

Joel Penhorwood 

Thank you so, so much for that, and thank you for your time to be on with us today. Let's start with a little bit of how you knew George and it's already been said here, but your thoughts on his impact, and what he brought to maybe not only the industry, but to also how you are looking at dairy today.

Jeff Ziegler 

Well, George Miller is one of those gentlemen that you think of that needs a statue somewhere and his picture hangs on the wall around here and we look at it each and every day and know what he means to the history and the dialogue of Select Sires from its founding days. But I first met George Miller in 1984. I was just a spry senior in college and came into this facility as a student intern and walked in and I think the first two people I met. Well, first three people I've met first I met my boss, but soon after that was George and his assistant, but George came to me and basically introduced himself as just another Joe from Select Sires and glad to have me as part of the organization and he just brought you in as feeling as part of the family from day one. That’s how he introduced himself to everyone. He was one of those that yeah, he was he was a pillar of Select Sires. Still is a pillar of Select Sires, but you didn't feel that pillar you just felt here's a gentleman that truly cares about you, cares about what you can do with him, and he can learn from you just as much as you're going to learn from him, even though I know I learned a whole lot more from that gentleman than he learned from me over the years. But when you have people that surround the early part of your career like I was blessed with, like George Miller or Dick Chichester or John Hecker or Howard Kellgren. You know, buildings are named after these people for a reason. George is definitely one of those reasons that without their guidance and success and wisdom and knowledge and forethought, I don't know if Select Sires would be where it is today. So, he was an icon before his time never would admit to such because anytime any credibility would come his way, he would pass it on to someone else. Just how George was. And was just the epitome of a person that could build relationships and you didn't even know it. But you knew that there was a there was a friend on the other side of that discussion from day one and it’s never changed, even after he retired because he would call on occasion just to say, “Hey, what's new?” Because he was truly interested in the success of Select, even though he wasn't here.

Joel Penhorwood 

And Leslie, feel free to jump in as well.

Leslie Maurice 

Well, I'd like to hear Eric’s take on that. I mean, I am a lot younger than both of these. So, these two that we have with us.

Eric Olstad 

She’s timestamping us, Jeff.

You know, so for me, again, I'm maybe in the middle there, from a time standpoint, my first introductions to George, and almost predominantly, were at the National Sales Conference. You know, I was very fortunate, I think, my first sales conference that I was introduced to him, and always looked forward to those conversations over the years. You know, one, to pick his brain about that growth journey that he was part of, obviously, the formative years of, of the Select Sires federation, and just unbelievable wisdom, and his ability to recall that and so you really have those conversations with him, and then try to weave that into what we were doing and at the time, and we had some pretty substantial growth happening, and, and so on, and so forth, and how his insights really had an impact. You think about it really, every other year, I had, I'm going to just say, a half hour conversation with George Miller, and, you know, I can sit here today, some 23 years later, roughly, and look back on those and remember those and, and even think some of the specifics of those conversations, and how many times have we had people in our lives like that, where that happens. It's very seldom and I would agree, you know, back to what Jeff said, there's no question that there has been some incredible people that have had their career journey at Select Sires and without doubt, in my mind, George Miller is an absolute icon.

Leslie Maurice 

Yeah, and I'm just going to say something that I think you two, have said, but I'm going to be a little bit more blunt about it and that is, George was a cow man, right? And I did not have the opportunity to work with I had many opportunities, just like Eric said, to sit and talk to him. So, he was a cow man loved, loved that. I mean, would bring us binders of all the Excellent daughters of 7HO5157 DURHAM and 7HO58 ELEVATION, right? And 7HO10506 G W ATWOOD, he loved that, but he had a passion for people and he loved talking to people. And I think that comes into, in my opinion, the next question for these guys, you know, like, let's talk about the impact that George Miller has had on our industry. And what you all can say about that.

Eric Olstad 

Maybe I’ll just start, you know, again, we all have different references of George and Jeff has been fortunate to be in the office and, you know maybe at certain points of Jeff's career to be around him daily. Right and so, mine was a little more remote or what have you. But I think it's a little bit of what you said, Leslie, it's that genetic focus of you know, look, we are a cooperative, we are working on behalf of our customer-owners, and to get them the best genetics we can, and then how marketing and the marketplace and evolution tied into that. I think there's probably if we look back retrospectively, in the A.I. industry, there's been very few people that have had that type of total tie-in to an organization, whether it's at Select Sires or any different A.I. company throughout the globe. And so, you know, he happened to start, at least as I understand and remember, with probably the greatest bull that the Holstein breed has ever seen. But really and truly, I think that was just the foundation and where George and those around him took that both genetically and from a marketing standpoint. Maybe you want to say a market share, or what have you, is simply amazing from those times to where we're at today. Really profound.

Jeff Ziegler 

Yeah, I agree, Eric. You think in terms of the Holstein breed you think in terms of ELEVATION as the founding stock of the breed, and George was the mastermind behind it, so why wouldn't you give him credibility from day one? Everyone did and deservingly so, and yes, Leslie, I agree. The cow part of George is what provided a comfort zone in a business atmosphere, because we're all cow people. We all like those four-legged things for some reason and George took that, and then built upon that, because he was such a people person. Again, you didn't even realize it, but the man of the utmost integrity, the man of the utmost respect, the man that had foresight that you didn't realize he was challenging you, but he did. He would challenge a person, I don't care what their role was within the company, he would challenge you, with your word in a way that that made you think outside the box a little bit. It's not because he disagreed, he just wanted to truly dig deeper into your thoughts. Then he would take those and mold them in ways and then give you the credit for it. Even though really George was the one that was really molding those decision processes. And I was fortunate to get an advanced degree at The Ohio State University, Eric, in case you didn't know. But I got a bigger degree and a better degree by watching George Miller and Dick Chichester in action. If you wanted to see two people challenge each other in a way that you wondered if it was a discussion or an argument. The outcome was outstanding and my office happened to just be around the corner from George's. And there was sometimes that where the door would close the voices would get loud and Jeff would get scared thinking, “Holy buckets, what's going on over there?” But the decisions that came out of those discussions were always for the betterment of Select Sires, and more importantly, the betterment of the customers of Select Sires. And it would funnel into something of success. Every single time it would go to the board, well thought out, well presented. And George would just sit back and smile and say, you know, this is the kind of thing that's going to better our company, benefit our customers. And he was so good at allowing the cow to represent Select, because when that cow did well for our customer base, Select prospered. Without that cow background that George had, like you said, Leslie, I don't know that we’d be on the path that we've been.

Eric Olstad 

I think that's a great point, Jeff, you know, so at the end of the day, it's about providing results for the customer. And if that worked, it provided results for Select Sires, the customer-first mentality through the means of extremely high-end quality genetics that delivered for the client and that approach, I think, it's been a few years since I've been at Select, but I'm always involved with them in the field, still is the pervasive mentality and I think a winning model.

Joel Penhorwood 

What an awesome legacy just to be here and sort of absorb and hear about this man who has had such a role of professional achievements. But as you all are talking, his impact is first and foremost been with you personally. That's a cool thing, that's a really cool thing, Leslie.

Leslie Maurice 

I totally agree. And I think that this initiative, this scholarship, really, really plays into that legacy that George has. Jeff and Eric both talked about ELEVATION and in his paramount role that he had in getting ELEVATION here at Select or even in the world, right? But, I still think that people are George Miller's legacy and the number of people that he has impacted in the industry and I'm going to let Jeff talk a little bit about this initiative, but I can't think of a better way to honor a man who had such a love for this industry than to keep letting his impact on people come back to life.

Jeff Ziegler 

Well, I think it all started when George retired. How do you, how do you give back to a person who has given so much? And you know, naming facilities after a person is a great way to do that because that legacy continues on no matter who is here and we think of think of George all the time in that manner. But when the Holstein Association in 2019 gave him the award of the Distinguished Leadership Award with the Holstein Association USA, George asked me to accept it on his behalf. Unfortunately, George at that time couldn't travel, so I was at the convention to accept it on his behalf and it was really hard. Here's a guy that means so much to so many and I'm accepting the award on his behalf, and I was honored, beyond honored, and the thank you note that George wrote me afterwards I've kept it in a place I look at from time to time when I just need a pick-me-up because he means so much. But the thing that George did in also, and I think it's fitting to create a scholarship under his name, is that he was such a promoter of youth. Like I said, when I first started here, he ran to you, and he did that with everybody. It wasn't me; it was everybody. He was such a promoter of youth to get to know them, get to know, their birthday, get to know their families, get to know when their kids had an award in school, because that's how George was. He wanted to create and mold the youth because he knew that those were going to be the leaders of the future. So why not start a scholarship under a man that lived it and breathed it each and every day, and that's kind of the backbone behind what started this scholarship interest. And the idea we presented to the Board of Directors, and then it was one of those slam dunk votes, that didn't take long to convince them, it was a great idea. So, then we formed this committee to develop some criteria, develop some thoughts behind it took it to the Holstein Foundation, and they, again, within seconds said, awesome idea, we would love to be a part of this activity and that's kind of the story behind it.

Joel Penhorwood 

If only all votes were that easy.

Jeff Ziegler 

If our government could handle that way, yeah, that would be interesting.

Eric Olstad 

Let me just add to what Jeff's bringing forth kind of where we're at with the actual scholarship itself right now. But you know, I'll just give you a little perspective from my end. So, like anybody, we look at our email, and one day, I got an email from Jeff Ziegler. I had zero background, you know, wasn't aware that Select was working on such a thing and so, you read the email, and you kind of digest it, like, wow, okay, and this is this is really cool. And think about George and he talks about the bull, and then the plans. But the thing I'll say is that Jeff, really gave our committee a blank slate, and what resulted in this scholarship is literally the compiling of the thoughts and ideas and feedback of this committee to create this new scholarship opportunity that the committee feels would best represent how George would want us to pick these youth or youths to be honored with a financial stipend. And I think that's really impressive that Jeff gave us that platform and I think that we're all, if I could speak for the committee, super comfortable with what we came up with and, and what will soon be rolled out in 2023 is our first winner.

Joel Penhorwood 

Let's talk about that scholarship then. Let's jump into a little bit of detail. Some great background. What is all entailing in that?

Jeff Ziegler  

Well, the scholarship itself is being funded in part by Select Sires’ donation, initially, and anyone that wants to contribute to the George Miller Scholarship, can do so personally by just contacting the Holstein Foundation, with a direct donation you'd like to provide. But above and beyond that, we said, let's, again, keep this youth focused, let's look for students in university settings that are third- or fourth-year members maybe in their college career, because they truly do want to give back to the industry, and let's look for those that aren't in there just to receive accolades. They’re there to receive financial support because they're going to give back for a long time to come, and that's what George would be after. George would ask for that person that's sincere in their effort for a long period of time that can give back in in many different ways. So, that Joel was, I know, a real, warm, fuzzy answer to what specifically does it mean, because you'll see that in the application of what we're looking for, and there's going to be a scorecard and this committee will review those results. And yes, it's due next March, we're not talking right away but we'll have that application available here at Select and at the Foundation as well. It's truly meant for a student that wants to give back, not a student just to try to get through school, and then go find a job. They already had that initiative in mind is, “I really want to be a part of this industry and I really want to give back in a special way.” And there's lots of students out there like that. Hopefully, all of us on this podcast are a little bit that way in our careers, and we want to find more people like that, who support with George's efforts.

Joel Penhorwood

Great discussion so far. Let’s take a quick break. You know in addition to scholarships available from Select Sires, there are quite a few internship opportunities as well. And if you ask quite a few of those around Select Sires, that’s how they got their start. Chris Lahmers is a marketing director with COBA/Select Sires. He started his career here as an intern.

Chris Lahmers

My dream was always growing up, like a lot of young people, was to be a dairy sire analyst. So, that was what my goal was at one time, and when I got to do the internship here at Select Sires, I got to meet people such as Charlie Will and Ron Long that were very influential people that brought in the bulls and I learned a lot of from them on what characteristics they looked for when they were selecting the bulls and the characteristics of the cows and the cow families they were looking towards bringing in the next generation.

Joel Penhorwood

Sound interesting to you? More online at www.selectsires.com/careers.

The Select Sires Podcast continues.

Now, a little bit about the NxGEN program’s involvement because that's a pretty unique perspective on this.

Jeff Ziegler 

Yeah, George I know would have been behind NxGEN 1,000%, because it's designed to make better cows for our producers, which is exactly how George thought. So, we thought well shoot, why not name a bull in George's honor, put him in the NxGEN program, take a percentage of the proceeds that that bull developed for the company and throw it back at the scholarship to allow success of a student or two in the years to come. That’s exactly what we did, because George would have been a full supporter of that idea. George's favorite color was green. I don't know if another quick little story here. Joel, George's favorite color was green, because it's the color of money. And it wasn't money for the company, it was money for the customer to earn from something the company could provide. And that's what NxGEN does. NxGEN is a way for a customer to benefit from the very best genetics that there are, and create that benefit long-term for his herd. So, it was a perfect opportunity to throw a George Miller bull into the program, and actually carry it to even a further level because we have another initiative called HHP$, Herd Health Profit Dollars. If you haven't heard the podcast or the webinar. Joel, let's get it out there, which I know you do. And that initiative, again, would be all about George because it's built around profit for our customers, long-term profit for our customers. So, this bull is the best HHP$ bull we have in the whole company. So, bingo! George again. So, I know is his name comes up when we when we think in terms of initiatives, we think in terms of what creates success for our customers, and that's where George's picture comes to light immediately.

Eric Olstad 

Jeff, I think it's at minimum ironic, I think I have this right as I was preparing for this call that 7HO15807 GEORGE MILLER is a 7HO14250 LEGACY son. Correct?

Jeff Ziegler 

There is LEGACY in his pedigree, that is correct. Grandson.

Eric Olstad 

Grandson. Okay, so GEORGE MILLER has LEGACY blood in his cow family. And how ironic is that? That one of the legacies of Select Sires is in the pedigree of the bull.

Joel Penhorwood 

That's great. If you'd like to learn more, of course, 7HO15807 GEORGE MILLER, the NxGEN bull. And the NxGEN program again, doing pretty well.

Jeff Ziegler 

So, Joel’s dead on his code number and his name, but I want to give you one little extra tidbit about GEORGE MILLER, the bull. This bull was chosen for lots of reasons and explained a few of those, but there's another reason. George was a pedigree official. I mean, he believed in depth of pedigree, depth of cow family. Look at ELEVATION’s pedigree, and you'll understand that was George's philosophy. And George would preach that to us in sire development every day. “Gentleman, make sure you know enough about those pedigrees that the data we see is really going to happen.” And he was right. And we still do that today. GEORGE MILLER has a deep, deep pedigree. Eleven generations I went back in his pedigree, and 10 of those eleven are Very Good or higher in score. They're all some of the very best sire stacks throughout the pedigree. His dam is alive and well in a large operation not far from where Eric lives actually, in Wisconsin, in a cross-vent barn and doing fabulous, and is going to do a fabulous job for a long time to come. We’ve used the bull as a sire father already. So again, the bull himself envelops everything George thought of. And that was, again, by design. We just didn't want to pull a bull off the shelf and call him George. This is the reason behind it.

Eric Olstad 

Jeff, I think it's somewhat ironic as well, that just so happens yesterday, I was at Larson Acres, spending some time in the pens, doing some things and happened to cross pollinate with many members of the CentralStar team that were doing some projects there as well. And here we are in this call this morning. And I just so happened got to see some members of the cow family, but even bigger, the thought that was crossing my mind is that here we are in 2022 in the dairy industry, and the trends and where the business is at and where it's going, I'm thinking about this call today, and I'm standing in a free stall barn of a tremendous supporter, cooperator herd of Select Sires, looking at pens of, you know, 150, 180 two-year-olds locked up, just the modern kind. Yes, this world is different than the day ELEVATION was born and came into the Select Sires fold. Am I right Jeff in saying 7HO58, is that correct?

Jeff Ziegler

Good memory. Yeah.

Eric Olstad

Well, he was before my time, but I do remember a few things. And you know, I just was thinking of what would George, when he saw these cows, right, being the innovator that he was. Jeff talked about HHP$. Isn't it unbelievable, he's the number one bull at Select Sires with all the depth and quality of genetics available in your lineup? When you look at where he ranks from a DWP$ dollar standpoint. I mean, the bull is an outlier and boy, did things come together when he decided to put that name on him and make him part of this program. And, you know, just having the good fortune to be with some of that CentralStar team yesterday and seeing the cows and the genetics. And it just really ties together this whole George Miller thing and ultimately, why we're on this call here promoting this scholarship. And it's pretty cool. It's coming together nicely.

Joel Penhorwood 

I was just curious, you know, you mentioned it there a couple of quick little breeding philosophy tidbits that have stuck with you from George Miller. Is there anything else that that would come to mind as far as that sticks with you in this modern age?

Eric Olstad 

I think part of it is being innovative, right, whether it's the innovation of Select Sires with HHP$, the innovation of Zoetis with DWP$, George was an innovator. George was typically one step ahead of the curve, and when you have cooperator herds that innovate with you, like Larson Acres does with the team at Zoetis and the team at Select Sires, and you come together and collaborate on behalf of those clients, you see what those results look like, standing with 2,800 cows yesterday, and its many, many people and foundationally, it's people like George Miller, Dick Chichester, and others that set that foundation for what we see as the ultimate results on the customer's behalf yesterday.

Jeff Ziegler 

And like you've said, Eric, George would seek out others. George was not a guy that would sit in his office and make decisions. That's a great model to remember. You know, from time to time, we all get kind of caught up in ourselves and so busy thinking we have to get this done and that done. And at the same time, we got to remember, there's a lot of collective great thoughts within the Select Sires federation. And, George again was the leader of that concept, leader of that band and never forget that.

Leslie Maurice 

I would just again, go back to the fact and Eric and Jeff both said it that, I think first and foremost, George loved the fact that we work for farmers. That we are owned, as Select Sires, by the farmers and by the people that we serve. And so, I think I already said it, I can't think of a better way to honor his legacy than by continuing to build our industry and our future in a true cooperative spirit, giving back.

Jeff Ziegler 

Gosh, Leslie, I almost broke out in a Lee Greenwood song there.

Eric Olstad

Well said, Leslie.

Jeff Ziegler

Yeah, that was good.

Joel Penhorwood 

That was great. And you guys will be announcing, you know, scholarship winners in 2023. But maybe for those that are interested, potential scholarship applicants. What would you have them take away from the life and achievements of George Miller?

Jeff Ziegler 

I think pretty simple Joel, and that is just give back. You're going to give it your all, but if you give back, there's your biggest reward. And George would be proud to represent that model.

Eric Olstad 

I'm going to spin off of what I said about Jeff kind of giving us a clean slate. Jeff lined out that our ultimate decision is that we're focusing this scholarship on college folks from across the country towards the end of their career, right? And so, the idea is that we the committee have a better idea of who they are and how they're going to impact the future of the dairy industry. And so, when you look at the focus of the actual application itself, it’s 50% dairy industry involvement, 25% community, right? Because that's also part of what Jeff said about giving back. And only 5% on the transcript, and so, when we talk about is this a highly academic focus? Is it, you know, more towards grad school? Is it high school seniors? Is it college entry? There's various choices and we ultimately came up, as Jeff said more eloquently, that this is for industry leaders that will graduate and enter the professional world and have those type of impacts. So, we're excited to have that type of focus. And certainly, I think our committee feels strongly that that’s the type of candidates that we're looking for, to pick here into the future

Joel Penhorwood 

And what a great time we've had here today, reflecting on the life and times of George Miller, but also looking ahead. Looking ahead to the future innovators of the industry and how cool is it that his impact continues on and will continue on for some, some time?

Leslie Maurice 

As I'm sitting here listening to Jeff and Eric talk about the impact, and like I said, I had the privilege of having some conversations with George as well, but I know that there are a lot of people out there within the Select Sires federation, former Select Sires employees that George made an impact on and even our customer-owners, that he made a huge impact on either in person or just through the genetics that he helped develop and put Select Sires on the map, no doubt. So, I think I'm excited for this to really come to fruition. I think that, I know, George is proud of Select Sires and what he has done, but I know he's really proud of his legacy through his people. We've all heard him say that. So, Jeff and Eric, you two are two of those people. And I appreciate you being here today to talk about somebody so influential in our industry, in our Select Sires federation and in our community.

Joel Penhorwood 

Jeff and Eric, thank you so much for joining us today.

Eric Olstad 

Thank you.

Jeff Ziegler 

Thanks for having us.

Joel Penhorwood 

This is The Select Sires Podcast. Thanks for tuning in.