One thing they've been working on recently in the tax arena is the question, is your ranch a business or a hobby?

You know, this is really something that, you know, our...

Our tax and credit leadership brought to the forefront.

It's great when you have CPAs who are experts.

They're also cattle producers.

The chair of our tax and credit committee is a former IRS agent, so you also have that whole balance.

And let me tell you, that was a robust discussion and debate as they're taking both sides and arguing this.

That one big, beautiful bill and these measures that we've had in the last year or so, do that take care of most of the ask we've had in this tax arena for agriculture and for cattle specifically?

What have been some of those key discussions that you've been having with them while you've been here in New Zealand?

Well, I think, uh, some of the main discussions have really, uh [laughs] ...

It was really designed to kinda clear the air on w- what's going on in Washington and, and where New Zealand fits in a lot of these discussions a- and, uh, w- what our industry on the US side is, is prepared to, uh, develop over the next couple of years.

I think there's a lot of concern about, uh, you know, potential consumer sentiment, but also just how the industry receives New Zealand.

So I spent a lot of time, uh, really focusing on some of those issues.

We also talked about important things like, uh, like the split gas and the metrics involved with that.

We are, uh, we are aligned on that front.

How does that compare with the mood among American cattle ranchers at present? Like, what's going well for them, and what's keeping them up at night?

Um, what role can New Zealand play in helping with that, Kent?

Well, I think it's, it's important to, to recognize that while our cattle herd may be at historic lows, our beef production is still at record highs, and beef demand in the United States is still at record highs.

We've built a lot of efficiencies into our system.

We have, uh, you know, we produce about, uh, 20% of the world's beef with only 9% of the world's cattle, and that has to do with the fact that we, we know how to maximize, uh, the benefits from those cattle.

New Zealand plays a very important role, though, because in the United States about 95% of what we are producing will be finished on grain.

Uh, and in order to meet that, uh, that demand for lean beef and for ground beef, for, for mince, we need New Zealand as a trade partner on there.

Uh, New Zealand is a, does a good job of, of supplying that.

Are those things enough [laughs] to cushion the blow, uh, Kent?

What's it been like in the last 12 months as an American cattle rancher with the president's flip-flopping around tariffs and the price of beef and the perception of imported beef, such as New Zealand? Give us some context.

Yeah, I would say, you know, for the last year, first part of that year, it was actually fairly stable.

Things were productive.

We've seen, you know, record cattle prices.

We were finally starting to see some profitability in the cow, calf and stalker and feeding sectors that we didn't see during COVID.

And so as we really started to replenish those coffers that were empty, we uh, things were looking good.

It looked like, you know, we're finally getting the rain we needed.

Don't you genuinely need more supply for the demand though?