Balancing Motherhood and the Land: Nikki Heuer's Journey at Diamond H Ranch

All right, welcome back to the Infinite Gold Podcast. We have an amazing guest today here, Nikki Huer.

Oh boy, it was close.

I was close. Starting off strong already here. So Nikki owns and operates with her husband Diamond H Ranch. It's out of St. Louis, Missouri. They own a cattle, uh, business. It's a ranch. And the cool thing that they do is they do consumer— or actually ranch-to-consumer. So, and all of their meat is grass-fed and grass-finished, and it's regenerative farming. Uh, the meat is amazing. We have already had, uh, half a cow, and we've got another full cow coming here in the next week or so. Super excited, so excited. But Nikki has been riding horses, been around horses, cattle her entire life. Uh, her amazing husband Michael started his ranch out in Wisconsin, and then he moved to Missouri because he was trying to get this grass-fed, grass-finished— there's more rain out there. So he moved out there, met Nikki, and they formed Diamond H Ranch about, what, 8 years ago, 6 years ago. Yeah. And then it's finally taken off last year thanks to social media. So we figured, well, let's push this social media and this podcasting more for them and get their name out there. So again, welcome, Nikki.

Thanks. Uh, I'm excited to be here. Michael wanted to be here too, um, but he kind of— everything he does is outside weather dependent. And yeah, he was planning on being here and was also trying to get some hay delivered to some people and had a like 3-hour window of no rain. It's been nonstop rain this week, so he had to miss out.

Yeah. So let's, let's talk about that. A lot of us, like, for starters, I love the rain. I hate the wind. So what is your guys' thought process on that? Because rain is good for you, but then it's also hard to work, right? So is it a love-hate relationship?

Yeah, I think a love-hate relationship is probably the best way to describe it. We've had so much rain. For the past month.

Yeah.

And, uh, it just— I mean, it's spring, so we're good. Grass is growing, crops are growing, but everything's like just coming up. Like, we still are wanting to supplement cattle with hay. Okay. Um, and the rain makes it hard. We don't want to just leave the round bale out. You trample the ground around one round bale. When we're feeding hay, we're driving it out with the tractor and and unrolling 5 or 6 round bales if it's rounds, or we flake off big squares or whatever. But whatever we're doing when it's this much rain, it's so hard to get the tractor out there.

Oh man.

So, um, that's kind of the biggest battle we've got. And, but I mean, aside from that, like you said, it's a love-hate because we need it. We need the crops to grow. So waiting on that.

I like it.

When does your guys' rain season end over there?

Usually like by now. It seems like, uh, it seems like we're in this extra wet couple weeks where I'm like, this should be over with, but, but here we are.

Well, maybe that rain will bring some good and might, might not see it now, but it'll come up later.

Yeah, it will. It will for sure. That's what I can't even hard— let's see, it was like 2 years ago we had a drought. Um, And so, so like he's delivering hay. I said we sell hay too. Um, he's still got family and friends in Wisconsin that grow and make really good hay. So that's why, like, there was this drought a couple years ago, so that was pretty hard on us as far as growing forage. But then we got really lucky in that we've got contacts up north where they had the hay that we needed. So it is, it's like you can't complain about it because Missouri, it is like Every 3 to 4 years it seems like there's drought condition and it just makes it expensive to keep your animals fed. But, but this year I don't think we're going to have that problem.

Well, on a professional side, so we like to talk about our Infinity Model, so personal, professional, vitality, and community. Well, on the professional side of it, as a business owner, as a rancher, how do you plan when you you know, in 3 to 4 years you may have that drought. How do you guys plan for that and work around it?

That's a good question. I think that we're like everybody else. We're just praying for rain.

Yeah.

We, I always, I'll tell people, I'm like, here we are. And maybe Michael's better than I am, but I don't think he is. Here we are like running this business and it's finally taking off and it's being successful. And I'm like, I am the last person who should be running a business.

Um, but you're doing it.

Yeah. And that's what I always— I figure that. And then it's neat because, um, like, our kids see that. Like, they know I have no— I'm really, really smart in some things. Um, I, I've got a master's degree and a post-master's certificate in behavior analysis. And nice. I am really good in some things, but running a business, I have no education in that. So It's neat that like the kids see it because they kind of, I think, have this idea that they can do anything they want to do because here we are. Like, I— what we're doing, what our family is making a living at is nothing that I went to school for or Michael either. He went to school and is certified for like dirt work and heavy, heavy equipment operating, which he like does for fun around here. But that's not So it's just, uh, it's neat, I think, for them to see. I always tell them, we've got our nieces are in high school and, um, Michael's oldest daughter is 18. She's just graduating. And it's like, you don't have to have your life figured out at 18. Don't stress. Yeah.

I mean, I would, I went to school for finance and I'm a deputy sheriff. I don't use it at all. So yeah, you don't need to have it all squared away. When you're young. No.

And I just remember at that age, that's really what everybody made you think. Like, what are you gonna do for the rest of your life?

Yeah. Right.

Exactly. I feel like we had that same conversation and we're like, you gotta have it all figured out. And I'm like, no, it's try— I think it, what we're learning now is it, it was all trial and error and seeing what worked, what you were really passionate about and what made you happy.

Mm-hmm. Yeah.

You know, that's awesome.

So yeah, we'll dive into the Vitality side of it. So you, Michael left Wisconsin because he wanted grass-fed, grass-finished. What is this whole thing about grass-fed, grass-finished? Why does it have to be grass-finished, or why should it be?

Uh, it's really interesting that that is his, his main reason for it, I think, was like low input. I think cows were always his hobby, and he's like, why should I have to feed them, pump feed into them? Um, how can I do it more cost effective? And that's what gave him the idea of, I'm gonna raise my cattle grass-fed, grass-finished. Um, on my end of it, coming into it and seeing that, I've always been like natural remedies, um, as clean as possible for like everything in my home, um, trying to stay away from processed foods and things. So when I came into it Now I'm coming into this grass-fed, grass-finished beef herd, and so I'm just looking at how clean it is and realizing like, hey, do you know what you're doing? Like, he's doing it from the cost side of things. He doesn't want to spend so much. And I'm thinking like, it's a better beef.

Oh yeah.

Yeah, there's— and I wish I had the studies, which he maybe would, but it's something like 80 or 85% more like bioavailability in the nutrients of that beef when it's grass-fed, grass-finished than, than when it's finished on corn or grain.

That's a huge difference.

Yeah, it really is. And it's like when you think about like, okay, so growing up, like maybe I didn't feed myself the best, like maybe I didn't care about it when I was in high school, college, whatever. But then you think like Here we are. I mean, you guys got kids, we've got kids, and you start taking care of somebody else and it's like you kind of rethink things.

Yeah. So true.

Well, we didn't know any better either.

And you wanna do better for them. Yeah.

Well, I mean, we didn't know any better either when we were, you know, teenagers and going to college.

Yeah.

We just were like, I just care about getting fed and getting sleep.

Yeah. Right. That's the truth. That's the truth. And it's kind of cool, like, I guess Bree, she's our 12-year-old and she's around everything we do with, like, she's there packing beef with me. She's out working cows with us. Like, she's there like every step of the way. And it's kind of neat because she, along with those things, she sees me talking to customers all the time and she sees me marketing all the time. So her little 12-year-old brain already has this idea of clean beef.

That's so cool.

That's awesome. And how beneficial it is. And like, she— what were we talking about? I guess we were riding a couple days ago. She's talking about where she's going to build a house when she's grown. And yes, that's so cool. I know. And she's like, the only thing I'm going to have in my fridge is our beef and yogurt.

I love that.

It's so funny.

I think you'll need a little bit more than that, but I like where your head's at.

Yeah. Hopefully you could start them young. That's so good. I love that.

And the entrepreneur brain of hers, like, it's, it's awesome. Like, you don't get that unfortunately in this day and age. Like, it, it seems like it's kind of like fallen by the wayside, but now she's like watching you and emulating you. Like, that's, it's beautiful to see.

Yeah, it really is. It's, uh, what was it? She's got the idea. She loves animals. She wants to be a vet and that's cool. Like, we so promote that. Along with that though, like I was just telling Michael this morning, he planted this seed in her brain. Of like embryo transfer and AI for cattle and horses. And this is like months ago that he just like mentioned it to her. And then so I just told you she was talking about where she's going to build her house. Then she was talking about her barn and she's like, and I'm going to have stalls because in case I want to embryo transfer any horses.

Hey, that's where the money's at. Like, I like that. I like that, that thought process.

It was so funny. Like, I told him this morning, I was like, you don't even know the influence you've had over this kid. You planted one seed and she's planning her barn around how she's gonna—

Yeah, I think that's awesome. We all grew up like, I want to be an astronaut, or like myself, I wanted to be a professional hockey player. She's like, you know, we're going to transplant some embryos and some horses. This is awesome. We never would have thought about that when we were kids.

I know, I know. That's what I always say. That kid, she's 12 years old going on 35. Like, she is so mature for her age. It's funny.

That is awesome.

Yeah, she's ahead of her— head of her age.

Yeah.

Oh my gosh. Well, I love your guys's meat. I think that, uh, once we tried yours, I turned into a complete meat snob, is what I've been telling everybody. I was like, I'm a meat snob now. I will not buy from the grocery store anymore because it, it's not, it's not quality meat. It's not.

It's, it's frustrating. Um, I guess that's my big thing. Like, nobody has to buy their ranch-dragged beef from us, but I want people to try ranch-dragged beef from somewhere.

Yeah, I would love for it to be other ranchers.

Yeah, I'd love for it to be us, but maybe it's not, and that's cool. But it's like The grocery store beef, it's, um, it's just like we don't know where it's coming from anymore. Those—

the country of origin labeling laws are so lax right now, which I did not know.

Like, yeah, I think people don't.

That's what— and honestly, that's what I love also about your Instagram is like at the beginning I was just like, I was diving into it. I was like, oh, this is cool, like grass-fed, grass-finished. So obviously, you know, the second that you search that on Google, Siri sees it and sends it to all the social media. So next thing you know, you got 18,000 ads for it. But then I was looking at yours and I'm like, wait, what? And then like sometimes like the ground beef is like not even just ground beef, it could be sometimes anything. And then tap into the part where you, you sent a post about like dyeing it, like some of the meat is dyed.

Um, oh, I think I saw something on that too.

It's Oh, it's not dyed, but it's like how it's wet-aged. Um, yeah, and it's like, it, it's this red color because of the wet-aging. And I forget what it is. Oh, I would have to look at my own freaking post to tell y'all. But it's— but that wet-aging and, and then wrapping it right away keeps it that red color. Um, whereas sometimes people open up our ground beef and they're like, like the outer layer of it is— it's not the same color as what you see in the store. And so they'll send me a message and they'll be like, hey, is there something wrong with this? And I'm, and I'm like, no. And I actually put a video up about it too. I'm like, that's what just— that's the color, like from oxygen, like oxygen on the— like we're not depriving it of oxygen. It's dry aging. So that meat is, is getting the oxygen and that's what colors it. Like, no big deal. You open up the ground beef and it's that same pinkish color. That everybody's used to. But, um, it's— that's what it is crazy. Like, you didn't know about things like the, the ground beef in the store could come from up to, like, they've DNA tested it, it's like upwards of 1,000 different animals. Um, and I'm sure, I am sure it's all gross cattle, but it's— think about, like, any type of sickness or bacteria or, like, how easily that would spread if you've got 1,000 different animals in 1 pound of ground beef because it's all just being mixed together from whatever, um, or wherever to think about. Yeah, or wherever. That's what it only has to be, like, repackaged in America. So it can be packaged in Brazil, shipped over here on a boat, and they repackage it here and say product of USA.

Here you go. That's like, yeah, you got 2 days to eat it because then it's bad. It's like, yeah, that's what we also noticed. We're like, Why does the meat go bad in like a day when the label says later? But for example, your meat, like we could take it out of the freezer, put it in the fridge and forget, and 3 days later still eat it and like, no, tastes amazing.

Yeah. Yeah.

Like obviously we try to eat it that day. Like that's the ultimate goal, but you know, kids, life.

I'm the same way where I'll go in the fridge to pull out something for dinner and it's like, oh yeah, because I thought I was going to meal plan and be a productive Productive mom this week. I got that out 4 days ago.

Yeah, but it still works.

Yeah, it does. It's always good.

It's, it's, it's honestly, I tell a story now all the time and, and Bree laughs about it, is so we got your half cow amazing, and then we realized that we still had some of the Costco. So we used to get, you know, the 10-pound, like, big, uh, long rolls of the ground beef. Yeah, so we still had, I think, a pound or two left, and it was in the freezer, and it was like, you know, readily available. Bree's like, should I just, uh, defrost this? Yeah, just defrost so we can get rid of it, eat it. So we did that, and then we made it with just the kosher salt like we normally do with your meat. And yeah, I literally almost spit the meat out. I was like, this is disgusting. I was like, we need to— you need to add some seasoning, or you need to— where's, where's the hot sauce? Like, I need something on this because this is disgusting. And literally after that, I'm like, yeah, we're not buying red meat from the store ever again.

I know, we'll never go— we'll never go back, literally. You know, as soon as we switched over with our butter too— oh, the butter, I'm like, okay. So we do the— was it the Irish— the Irish butter?

Yeah, we do the Irish butter. And then recently— and maybe you can elaborate and help out other people— is how do you reuse like the tallow or reuse the fat for like future cookings?

So I know that there are other people who reuse it, and I don't know how to reuse it, but, but we do with everything offer, offer the fat with like our, our quarters, halves, and wholes, where people can just take the fat trimmings so then they can make their own tallow with that. And that's just like rendering it down. So, um, gosh, who is it? Beatdown Barbecue on Instagram is gonna do a whole like class or a little post, I guess, on how to render the tallow. Yeah. So it's basically from what I understand, which I've never done it just because the processor does it for us. So it's in my freezer. So yeah, but it's basically just like boiling it and straining it and boiling it and straining it until you get all the impurities out and you just have the tallow left. And it is like to me, that's like butter and tallow. Like that's the only thing we cook with anymore. Like you guys said, salt. Yeah. Butter, tallow, salt.

Yeah, which is funny because when we were growing up, were we supposed to eat all that? And now it was all frowned upon.

It's like, no, not too much, too much butter. That's, you know, that's, that's too fattening. It's like, well, like, of all the fats, like, that's a better fat. And I, I think I was on, um, there's a chick I follow on the potty training and was talking about how, um, if your kid's like getting constipated or whatnot give them butter because it'll help get things oiled up.

And that makes sense.

So I was like, yeah, before, like, you know, I would use very little butter. You'd be like, babe, how much butter did you put? Oh my God, that— you put like half a stick of butter in there. Yeah, no, it's good. Yeah, we weren't using the good kind of butter, but as soon as we switched over to the, the Irish butter, the grass-fed butter, we never went back to the regular, like, Costco Kirkland brand because I taste those like this taste like shit.

I know, I know.

You make those like little changes and then you go back to your old ways and you realize, ew, it doesn't— it's not the same. Like, the, the healthier way tastes better. It's a little bit more costly, but it's worth it.

Yeah. What did I, um— there's some like meme I saw and I like reposted it on, like, once your body is no longer addicted to the processed junk, it'll start to taste like the processed junk it is. Yeah, that's so true.

It is great. Your body changes to what it's supposed to be consuming, not what you've been forcing down its throat for however long.

Yeah. Yeah. That's, uh, what do I always, um, our kids, they'll like be, they'll just want to come up and like take a bite of a stick of butter and I never frowned upon it. I'm like, go ahead. Like, it's a good snack. It's good for your brain. And so that's what they'll tell me now. I just need some butter for my brain, mama.

I love it. Oh my gosh. That's so cute. That's funny. I like at first, uh, thinking about that, you'd be like, oh, that's kind of, that's kind of weird, that's gross, just take a bite of butter. But I, I think I, I remember, um, as a kid I got dared, uh, in an Italian restaurant to eat one of those little blocks of butter. Yeah, I did. It's for a dollar. I was like, sure, I'll do it. I ate it.

And I'm like, and now we recommend it.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Oh my gosh, it's crazy.

Times have changed.

Seriously, yeah, for sure.

I love one thing I say about how, uh, what you share on your social media is you, you're educating people too on, on the industry and like the benefits of, of the meat and the benefits of it being grass-fed, grass-finished. And I think a lot of the public are— they're not— they have no idea like, yeah, what go— what goes into the process. You guys work really, really hard to cultivate this amazing meat to give to people, and versus where you're getting it from the grocery store. A lot of people just don't know any better. They're like, oh, I'm getting— I'm getting meat from the grocery store, it's good for me. But they have no idea that, you know, yes, it's got a stamp, uh, in the USA, made in the USA. Yeah, they don't know that it could be coming from overseas or that it could, you know, ground beef like you were talking about could come from 100 different animals, 1,000 different animals. All blended up into one. So you can share all that education with people, kind of to help open up their eyes and be like, you know, there's better meat out there, support your local rancher.

I think, um, like that— I do that so much because there's like— I knew none of that like 4 or 5 years ago. I knew none of it. And I would just— Michael grew up with cattle, and in casual conversation he'll say some of these things And it's like no big deal to him, but my jaw will like drop. I'll be like, Michael, people don't know that. So it's like I learn all these things. And so that's what's really, you know, that's why it's been important to me to do the educating the public, because it's stuff that just blows my mind. What's his other one that was like, oh, I get a lot of emails from people like about well, not emails, it can be post or questions, comments, whatever, about grass-fed, grass-finished beef doesn't taste good is what they'll tell me. And, um, I've only really had that since, you know, I used to buy from the store when I got together with Michael and he had beef. So okay, now it's, now it's ranch direct beef. So that's really all that I've had, and I've never noticed a difference, or I mean, from— I don't know it to taste bad. So people ask me that, and what he just like knew it. He's like, well, a lot of people just leave them on a pasture their whole lives and then they call them grass-fed, grass-finished. It's like, well, yeah, technically they are grass-fed, grass-finished on a pasture their whole life. But I'm like, there's so much that goes into it that people don't think about. It's like to get that marbling, to get them fat, you have to keep them on high protein and grass does not keep high protein year round. So it's like the spring right now, everything's lush coming up. So it's probably the best time of year. But if you're finishing something in the winter, you better be supplementing the protein somehow. And so people will traditionally turn to corn or, um, whatever grain they're feeding for that. And, and we're like very intricately like planning cover crops and like where we're going to have different sets of cattle at different times to make sure that we've got stuff finishing out on high proteins, we still get that marble. Um, that's what he— I wish he was here. That's the important part, is that marbling that everybody wants. And so, yeah, um, people— I get so frustrated that there is this stigma of grass-fed, grass-finished beef doesn't taste good. I'm also like, but have you tried ours? Exactly.

But you haven't had Diamond H, right?

And I'm sure that there are other people who do it that way way too. I'm sure it's not just ours, but like, give us a shot because it's— I'm really picky and it's really good.

Yes.

How do you guys supplement yours? Can you dive into that?

Well, it's, uh, the high protein cover crops. So like ryegrass, turnips, um, alfalfa. It's, uh, what's the other? Oh, triticale. Those are things that he'll plant Um, and like, they won't really— well, actually, I guess this winter I did see them munching on turnips, but it's more like the leafy forage at the top of the turnip that you expect them to eat. It is funny though when you go out in the pasture and they've got like a big turnip in their mouth, like dropping them. But that's— it's that leafiness and just making sure that— and then we do supplement in the winter with, um, hay too, the alfalfa hay. Um, you gotta balance that with the grass hay though. Just based on how they digest, how they digest stuff. They've got to like keep the rumen full. He could tell you all this, but it's keeping the rumen full. And if you just use alfalfa, they could bloat on that. So it's like the alfalfa plus dry grass and mixing it right. And yeah, it's like a, it's a thing. Like it's not just leave them on pasture their whole life and hope for the best.

Yeah. It's a constant progress.

It really is. And that, I guess the biggest thing to me, like, we are in cattle country. Missouri's got a whole lot of cows. Everybody's got cows. Everybody knows somebody who's got cows or whatever. But like, and I would love to, we want to invite like all of our customers out for like customer appreciation day, like once a year or something. Like, I want people to come out here and see these cows. Like, they genetically, they're built a little bit different. They are like smaller. Like everybody around us has these big long-legged cows. And he said that that's really how the Angus breed has been bred. You know, America, we want everything bigger, better, faster, cheaper. So they want to grow them up real quick. And they've kind of changed the Angus breed around here. Um, where it's almost like a requirement for them to get that corn to get fat. So then you look at our cows, we've got a really old genetic line. Um, Oldie Cattle Company is the genetics that we use, and they're shorter, they're like a smaller frame cow. Um, so it just doesn't take as much to fill them up because they are smaller, so they don't need that corn. He always says that, uh, he says our Angus are Angus from way back when Angus didn't need corn to get fat. And he'll just like talk casually. He's got all this like cool little info like that. I'm like, people want to know that. They want to know these things. So that's why it's interesting. Yeah, I think it is too. And I can get so— I think I told you, like, I can be so nerdy talking about genetics.

Yeah, I love it.

I love it.

But, uh, uh, That's just, it's, you know, it's our life's work now. So that's what we talk a lot about.

Which is awesome.

Yeah.

So how does it feel, and this is going to tap into the mom side, how does it feel being a mother, a business owner, entrepreneur, the social media, like all of it all in one? Like how does that feel and what's that kind of day-to-day stuff that you do?

It's crazy. I'm sure that Bri knows the chaos, but, uh, It's, it's crazy. We, we homeschool our 10 and 12-year-olds. They're home for homeschool. The 3-year-old boys, we've got 3-year-old twin boys. Um, and it's like, we are just nonstop going. Uh, I feel like we've got a good schedule now with the beef. And so Mondays, it's like the girls get up early. Um, we do school, which this year we switched to a mostly online curriculum. So that's really helped us. Um, I can log on and like track progress and see what they're doing. And, and, but they're pretty self-sufficient now. So that's cool. Um, and by the time they're finished with school will be just about the time the boys are starting school. So I think I'll have time to swap brain, swap my brain to that side of things. But it's, it's just following that schedule of these are the things we have to do. We do those first thing in the morning. Then these are the things we have to do for the ranch. And then it's what day of the week is it? Are we packing beef? Are we shipping beef? Are we picking up beef? And we just try to keep a good schedule there. And I guess the biggest thing is it's— I'm always looking for, like, on the school side of it, like, where are the lessons I can give them, like, while we're living daily life? But then where are like, like life lessons that I can give them? Not so much as school lessons, like where, like we talked about earlier, the 12-year-old, like already being an entrepreneur, like, yeah, yeah. She's got that mindset for when she grows up. Um, right now, just a couple of days ago, she started an Etsy page to sell dragons. It's, uh, it's whatever. She's got a 3D printer and she prints off those. 3D printed dragons and that's a big thing to her. And she's like, started, starting to realize like the costs associated with her filament and everything she wants to print. And so she's like, well, if I can sell 3 dragons, it'll pay for this filament and I can actually make like 100 dragons out of my filament. And I was like, oh my gosh, listen to you.

That is, that is, that is awesome. Like what 12-year-old is normally doing that stuff? Like, I know they don't teach you that in school.

They don't. Um, and it is chaos every day, but then you have moments like that where it's like, okay, maybe I am doing okay. Maybe we're doing something right.

It's all worth it.

Give yourself some grace. You're running a ranch, you're running a business, you're running your household, your kids, homeschool, all of it.

Yeah.

Yeah, you're doing all of it. You're doing a great job.

It's, it's, that's what that is. Okay. That's what I tell people. Um, Like every mom needs to hear that, that they're doing a great job. I, uh, we do a lot with Meet Dad on Instagram. He's become a good family friend of ours and they just had their third baby. And I remember like he sent like a picture of the baby and like delivery and everything went well. I was like, tell her she's doing a good job. Tell her she did a good job. Like all moms need to know that. Yes.

That's awesome.

Yeah. So that's kind of a thing too. It's like no matter how chaos crazy you think it is, it's, I don't know, look for those times when you can kind of see, oh, everything's working out okay. And just pay attention to those times and let the chaos go to the wayside.

Yeah. I have a question for you. With all that you have going on, how do you recharge?

Oh, that's a really good question. I don't do it enough. I know that. I, yeah, there are two really important things to me. One is riding horses for fun. And one is like meditation is a big thing for me. I try to wake up before everybody and, and squeeze in like 15, 20 minutes to like meditate and just get my mind right in the morning. And like, you can tell when I, when I haven't done that for days, and days and days on end, like, it just seems like I'm just more flustered. And I haven't like had a moment to sit and like, ground myself. But then I think if I miss meditating in the morning, if I can get out and get on a horse, that seems to do the same thing, like just clear my head. And usually, Bri rides with me, but it's like we're riding together, but we're both just in our own world. And it's It's, that's a big thing for us. Um, it probably is. Um, like here we've talked a lot about her, but she's 12 years old. She's a high achiever, it seems like. Um, and I think with that comes like, she does have anxiety and I think that's something that she's going to have to learn to manage, but it's like, you know, if maybe riding a horse does that for her too. So.

Gotta have that outlet.

Yeah, something.

That's cool. I, I've always wanted horses.

We'd like—

that's in our future where we— wherever we move, where we go, we want our own ranch with horses and stuff. And I feel like every time I've ever gotten on a horse, I've just kind of felt like this weight off my shoulders, this freeing, like, feeling. And I can only imagine how much more you feel of that because you get to do it every day. And when you go out and just to go have a ride outside of doing your ranch work, Yeah, that's got to be such a good feeling.

Yeah, yeah. I don't think I, uh, well, when, when I was pregnant with the twins, the doctor told me I could not ride. We found out it was twins, um, she's like, okay, Nikki, like, at the time I was still training horses and I just picked up a couple Mustangs. I was gonna do one of the extreme Mustang makeovers with one, and she was telling me I can't ride, and I was like, Oh, you mean like I can't ride training horses? And she's like, no, Nikki, you can't ride any horses. I was like, you mean I can't like go do mustang work? And she's like, Nikki, you're like, you know what I said. Yeah. So that was funny, that 9 months. Well, I guess, yeah, it was probably still 9 months-ish where it was like we'd work cattle and I'd like drive the side-by-side to help, and I'd like watch everybody like ride off and have fun without you, go through the creeks, and like they're talking because they're on horses while we're heading out, and I'm in the side-by-side. I can't hear anybody. It was like the hardest 9 months ever.

Oh gosh, especially if that's what you're used to doing like every single day.

Yeah, it was. That's another— that's why moms need to know they're doing a good job. I like my mental health took a big toll at that 9 months of not being able to do anything and the postpartum depression. So like even after they were born, then there was 2 new babies. So it wasn't like I got right out in the saddle again right away. It was just, that's a real thing. That I think it's, I don't know the stats on it, but I think it's a high percentage of women that deal with that.

I did.

So it needs to get, um, I don't know, people need to understand it. It's real. And that's—

yeah, I— so I didn't get it with my son, uh, but I did get it with my daughter, and it hit me hard. I was in a really deep, dark place, and once I, like, diving into my personal growth and my mindset, that's what changed my life. That's what pulled me out of the darkness and has brought me to right where I'm at right now.

That's awesome.

Like, so, and that's why I'm doing what I'm doing, is so that way I can help other moms that have gone through it or are going through it, you know.

Yeah.

Thinking about having kids and kind of prep them in a way best.

Yeah.

And like, hey, and I know everybody's different, everybody goes through a different experience. Not every mom really goes through that, because I've talked to a handful of friends that have kids and they're like, no, I really didn't get it. Or, you know, oh, I got it with this one but not with that one. Or I've had it with all, you know, all of my kids kind of deal. And Yeah. Everybody's got a different story behind it, but you know, if I can, you know, take the, the tools and the tactics that I learned to get myself out of it and to shift my mindset to help other moms get through it, that's what I'm here for.

Yeah. And those tools and tactics, like it, it'll be so helpful for moms, but then like it's so universal, like yeah. Yeah. For, for the more skilled you are in that area and helping other people, it, it is, you can help so many people. So many people need help with that. Yeah.

The men too. I mean, cuz they're on the—

yeah.

You take 'em for a ride. I'm like, well, I'm going through, I'm pushing him too. He's just like holding on the horsetail of this wild ride that I'm on. I'm like, come on.

Yeah, that's the truth. Wow.

So we usually like to finish this with the, like the 3 golden nuggets. So in the, either you can go 2 different routes with this. You can go the health route or the professional route. What would be like 3 golden nuggets that you have based off around about your life, your business that you think the listener should hear from you?

Okay. 3 golden nuggets. I would love to just use it and promote Beef, but I— you can go to our Instagram for that.

Yeah.

All right.

What I really wanted—

I mean, and by the way, we will tag you in, in all of our posts and on the— oh, awesome. So yeah. So if you are listening to this, just go to the notes section and you'll find their Instagram and their website.

Perfect. Yeah. Because I think what's more important is, um, like the whole don't give up on it. Don't give up on anything that you're excited, that makes you excited. I always, like, I think about, we tried and tried and tried to get our business off the ground, um, for so long. And like the kids would tell us, um, what was their phrase was like, the beef business is in the toilet, mom. Like, they were like, give up on it already. And it's, uh, and so it's not so much— it's not so much that it's like our dream to sell beef, but our dream is, um, like Michael's happy place is with the cows, my happy place is on a horse. So how can we take these things that we're passionate about and like give back to the community? And it's raise a quality product and, and get it to people. I think the majority of ranches survive on the market, like the calf— the cattle market and selling calves at the sale barn. And that just isn't sustainable, really. It's too risky and it's a gamble and you don't know what is going to go on with the market. And numbers-wise, it wasn't putting our family where we needed to be to be on this ranch working full-time. So that's why we switched to direct-to-consumer and And so, like I said, it was hard and it took determination to keep going. So, like, perseverance would be like golden nugget number one. Golden nugget number two is like, like ingenuity and looking outside the box. So traditionally, everybody's trying to make it with selling their calves at the sale barn. And that's what— when our beef wasn't taking off, that's what we did year after year. Raise a calf crop and sell them, raise a calf crop and sell them. And you wait, like your whole life hinges on you get this one big check a year and you've got to figure out how to make that work. Um, so we had to, you know, make it work and that was hard. So think outside the box, what can you do differently? So that's where the ingenuity comes in. And golden nugget number 3 would just be, I think, like the whole idea of like giving back. So how can you serve others?

Um, I love that.

It's, it's, it is. It's one thing to have this, like, we are so grateful and feel so blessed to have this ranch finally, to have all the cattle that we have finally. It's been a lifetime growing this herd and getting the right genetics and to be set in this spot where, where we can do what we're doing. And it's like, so now that we have it all what can we do for the community? And that's where we go with high-quality beef. Yeah, I love that.

Those are really good golden nuggets.

Those were— those are great.

Oh, good.

Probably one of our best ones yet. Don't tell everybody else. No, that's awesome. Well, we just wanted to thank you for coming on. We really do appreciate it. Honestly, like, we love the meat that you guys produce and you guys send us, and Can't wait for our next batch of meat. Um, but thank you for everything you do though.

Hey, let us know when you have that customer appreciation, because we will be there. Yeah, we would love to be there. You tell us, we'll be there.

I will. I wanted my— like, brain is always going a mile a minute. And last year we started taking off with beef. I was like, by next summer we're gonna have this set up. I don't know if we'll get it there this summer, but surely by next summer it's I want to do like, um, like a big cookout, have a band, have it go for like 2 days.

Yeah.

Invite like all of the customers are invited. And then like, of course, um, like any, you know, just anything anybody wants to bring to the table, bring it and let's just like celebrate for a day. Free good food for a couple days.

That would be awesome.

So fun.

Yep.

I'm excited. Whenever this is, I'm excited already.

Awesome.

Well, stay tuned. Make sure you follow Diamond H Ranch. Make sure, make sure you follow Bree Goldner, Anthony D. Goldner, and the Infinite Gold Podcast. We love all you guys. Nikki, thanks again for coming on. And Nikki, we can't wait to have both you and Michael in the future.

Yeah, sounds good.

Awesome.