S5 Ep 6: Using Limu Kohu To Improve Feed Efficiency On Pastured Livestock

We catch up with Alexia Akbe from Symbrosia on how limu kohu seaweed is moving from promising methane research into real ranch use across Hawaii and the mainland. We talk performance-first economics, product forms for pasture and feedlots, and what new trials could prove next for animal health and efficiency.

• Alexia’s background in environmental chemistry and greenhouse gases
• Why limu kohu stands out for enteric methane reduction
• Commercial pasture trials showing improved rate of gain and feed efficiency
• Pricing the product around measurable ROI instead of carbon credits
• FDA pathway, current use across beef cattle ranches and sheep producers
• How Symbrosia farms, dries and processes seaweed in Kona
• Mineral replacement potential, trace elements and bioavailability in a whole-plant matrix
• Oil extract format for feedlots and why rations may need rebalancing
• Species-specific needs including copper sensitivity in sheep
• Upcoming research focus areas including cow-calf, weaning stress, parasite reduction and pinkeye

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Transcript

SPEAKER_02 0:15

Aloha. Today's episode is sponsored by the Livestock Extension Group out of the University of Hawaii, Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, as well as the Center for Ag Profitability out of the University of Nebraska.

SPEAKER_01 0:29

Aloha and welcome to the Livestock Fall Ow, a podcast aimed to provide educational support, information, guidance, and outreach to our livestock stakeholders in Hawaii and the U.S. We are your hosts, Melel Shiro and Shane and Sand.

SPEAKER_02 0:43

Today we're talking with Alexia Akbe from Symbrosia. Thank you for coming on.

SPEAKER_01 0:48

Yeah.

SPEAKER_02 0:48

Yeah, I'm excited to be back on and chat with you ladies.

From Chemistry To Methane Solutions

SPEAKER_01 0:51

Yeah, thank you for taking the time. Yes. So I know we've had you on our podcast before, but if you want to just share a little bit of your background, kind of tell people a little bit who you are and whatnot. Awesome.

SPEAKER_00 1:05

Yeah, so I guess my technical training is in chemistry, environmental chemistry. And so I really spent the earlier parts of my career studying environmental contamination, the built environment, and that kind of led me into greenhouse gases and how all of that worked. And then I think we probably talked about this on the last podcast, but came across some really interesting research from Meat in Livestock Australia, which profiled a bunch of different seaweeds or limu for the folks in Hawaii as feed ingredients for reducing actually enteric methane, because that was a pretty high priority at the time. And they found that one specific limu, limukobu was the best at reducing methane up to 90%. And so Symbrosia was really founded to try to commercialize some of that work and contextualize it in a wrench or different controlled feeding environments. And that's really what we've been doing over the past couple of years, probably since we've talked last, is um more commercial and field trials and rolling out the product. So excited to share some of those updates.

SPEAKER_02 2:15

That's so exciting. So so yeah, because it has been a couple of years. So I was like, I'm honestly, I'm really excited to hear if you're comfortable talking about again some of your feed trials and stuff. Because I remember you did talk about you were going to do some commercial trials, trial runs. That's the word I'm gonna use today.

SPEAKER_01 2:31

Um so yeah, I think the last time we talked to you, we were in person. Shannon was still here in Hawaii with us.

SPEAKER_02 2:38

Well, I think I came back to visit.

SPEAKER_01 2:40

Yeah. He came back to visit. So yeah, we were talking a little bit. So I'm excited. I'm excited to hear um what you guys have been working on since then.

Pasture Trials And The Rancher ROI

SPEAKER_00 2:48

Yeah, excited to share some of the progress. Yeah, so I think what we knew from the research at the time was the ability to reduce methane, but we really wanted to figure out like what was the other value to the rancher because um there weren't really markets set up yet to create revenue out of carbon credits, and it was a really new um kind of comer to the conversation. And so we started doing commercial trials and in pasture-based systems initially, because we really wanted to provide product for that part of the system, given that cattle spend the majority of their life typically on pasture as well. Um, and so we put out the dried seaweed product in you know, Hawaii pastures, commercial pastures. Um, Melani was part of some of that research. Um, and we found that because of the nutritional qualities of the seaweed, not just the methane-reducing compounds that mimic like a mineral, first of all. So really nice, calcium, all these trace elements, um, has 40% protein in it, has a bunch of antioxidants, kind of like bioastin. So that red color of the lemu or carotenoids, which um can really help with stress reduction. So we've been studying like heat resilience, um, immune system function, and then um parasite reduction. We've also gotten some really interesting data. So it turns out that seaweed's really healthy for humans to eat, and it's also really healthy for cattle to eat. And we've seen um improvements in rate of gain over 25% in pasture-based systems, which was kind of really our that's really nice from an economy's perspective when I'm looking at like pounds of gain.

SPEAKER_02 4:36

I'm like, that's what I was like, well, depending on the price of it, but I was like, that's what I would like to hear. Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 4:43

Yep. So we were like, actually, that's probably our biggest value proposition if we want anyone to purchase this in in the short period. So we started um kind of working with that value prop. We priced our product then based off of the feed efficiency and not on the carbon credits. Um, and then in October, we kind of got a pre-approval from the FDA to start um implementing it more commercially. So we have 12 ranches across what you in the US using the product now. Um, so you do have some on the mainland giving it a shot too.

SPEAKER_02 5:17

That's exciting. Are these all beef cattle ranches or yeah, that's a good question, or dairy or what have you?

SPEAKER_00 5:22

Because I would wonder beef cattle, and then we have two sheep. Oh, that's exciting. Awesome. We don't have approval to do dairy, so we've kind of just like hunted that down the road until there's some regulations that need modernized. Basically, the FDA granted us a loophole. Um, but they're trying to update their claims regulations at the FDA um to be able to products like these, yeah. So that was definitely like one of the initial hurdles when we were getting started, is just figuring out the regulatory process with the FDA and what the information to submit.

SPEAKER_01 6:00

So I'm gonna take it a step back, but um, for those that maybe are not familiar with the product of symbrosia that you folks have um for sea grays, can't you want to talk a little bit about it and like sort of what exactly it is, how they would feed it, and how you would incorporate that into um a supplemental system.

SPEAKER_00 6:17

Yeah. Um, so we operate a seaweed farm. So we operate a seaweed farm in Kona at the OTEC facilities, and we grow Lima Kogu, which is a native seaweed in like a tank-based system using seawater. Um, limo is really interesting. Seaweed's interesting because it grows about 10 times faster than land plants, so it doubles in weight like every 30 hours. Um, so we have this continuous process where we're harvesting um like once or twice a week, and then it goes into our processing um area on site as well, and we have a curing system, so the seaweed gets dried at like low temperatures, so it preserves all the nutrition in there. And then we also, since last time we talked, we launched a essential oil version, which we use for feedlots. So we got we extract the compounds into like an oil carrier, and then that homogenizes really nice with a total mix ration instead of having like little seaweed chunks. But we're seeing now is really funny that um they're picking out the seaweed and the mineral and preferentially eating the seaweed um in the dry product.

SPEAKER_02 7:32

Are they? Because I was gonna ask about palatability. So I was like, yeah. Um salty, that's what I I yeah.

Minerals, Stress, And Animal Health

SPEAKER_00 7:40

It's very similar to mineral, like it's about 60 to depending on the operation, it's about like 60 to 70 percent of the mineral requirements are in that's pretty good. Wow. Um, yeah, so that's kind of our next foray for this year. We want to like almost totally replace mineral supplements for pasture-based systems. So because we're also a farm, we can basically modify like our fertilization methods to like add more calcium during the production stage or add all these minor ingredients that ranchers need.

SPEAKER_02 8:12

I think copper, I don't know if that's a possibility with Limo, but I'm I'm gonna ask real dumb questions here because chemistry, not my background or area of expertise. So yeah, because I I think of copper, because there I know we're some copper copper deficiencies in certain places on Big Island and Maui, I want to say, and maybe a couple others, but yeah. And even here it's it's a problem at times, quite frankly.

SPEAKER_00 8:35

So yeah, yeah, because that's I mean, that's some of the biggest pain points we've been hearing is just like deficiencies and a lot of folks.

SPEAKER_02 8:43

I could nutrient deficiencies, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 8:45

Already, so it was the easiest way for us to like plug the product into operations was just with the mineral, and then um the other really cool thing is because a lot of the mineral was like I guess synthetic or like mined sources versus the lemu is like in a whole plant matrix, which means it's like chelated or more bioavailable. So, like the I don't know if you've heard about like the Zen Pro products about there being like better bioavailability. So all the minerals in the sea grays are like at that level of their toxin acids, so they can get taken up and utilized a lot better as well. Um, so we're hoping over time to like be able to better address deficiencies too, because you're not getting these, I guess, where the minerals get like caught up with each other, where like if you're supplementing too much of certain things before they reach the rumen or before they reach the intestine, the rumen will kind of um precipitate them out, and you won't be really getting any of that copper. So it's been a lot of fun for me, just like with my background being like the plant side, and now we're like, oh wait, all this stuff also applies um to cattle and that gap.

Oil Extract For Feedlots

SPEAKER_01 9:58

Yeah, well, I think there's a lot of um interactions, right, that occur and that you have to think about on the plant and the chemical side, and then within the animals and stuff. So it does balancing rations is probably one of the hardest things that I have to do when I when I when you think about it, like even when you're going when we're going to school, you know, those are things that um there's always something else out there. You said you guys now have an oil product. How does that compare to the granular granular products that you guys had before? Is it a higher concentration? And how um, you know, as far as like cost-wise, is that gonna be more efficient for, especially I would I would think for shipping if you're going across, right?

SPEAKER_00 10:39

So exactly. So shipping and then in a feed law, it just mixes a lot better, so we know they're getting like a consistent dosage of it. And then in a pasture-based system, typically you're like looking for more nutrition if you can get it in. So that's why the whole seaweed works really well. There versus in a feed law, everything's already like super tailored down. So they might not be lacking as many things because it's all fed to them like daily in large amounts. So um we don't have like as much of the protein, for example, in the oil product. So the pasture product definitely caters to the needs of a pasture system versus the oil, just really is the efficiency that you can see.

SPEAKER_02 11:21

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 11:22

Um, but it does require us to like rebalance the ration, then even at the feedlot, because what we're seeing is when you're not belching out methane, you have more energy available to the animal, but then you need to rebalance the ration to make sure that there's extra other compounds to like translate that energy into tissue. Right. Because if you don't have enough, I don't know if you ever like in in our lingua cultures, like if you're fertilizing something and then you just like stop fertilizing it, it'll like crash basically because it ran out of everything that it needs. So that's kind of what we're working through on the feedlot side, is like, okay, if we make the animals more efficient, what other products do they need to make sure are in sufficient quantities in the feed? Um, and then it's like, okay, there's all these other pharmaceuticals that the feedlots are using too, and how do they interact with each other? So it's definitely a little bit more of a nutritional process and mapping than in a pasture system where like all protein and bioavailable minerals you see an immediate boost. Yeah.

Species Differences And Custom Formulas

unknown 12:34

Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 12:35

Shannon brought up a good point about the copper. So your formulations for um your product across the different species, is that gonna change? Because we do have, you know, the sensitivity in our sheep population for copper and whatnot. So um is that another thing? So are your products going to be more specific, species specific?

SPEAKER_00 12:55

Yeah, I think the goal would be to have two different products, so a cattle product and the sheep product. I think right now we're still trying to figure out how feasible this would be, but I was even thinking to do custom mixes at some point because I think we'll get the seaweed to a certain point, and then we still might need to supplement a little bit of mineral in the packs. So we might mix our own minerals, and at that point it could be tailored for operation, which I know a lot of folks are looking for more support on like mineral tailorization because obviously every wrench is different, but sometimes you're getting like a regional mineral subscription, or you might not be redoing your analysis super frequently. So I think a lot of people are interested in like, okay, yeah, let's like redo our mineral composition together and and do something more custom.

SPEAKER_01 13:44

Yeah, and I think with our small ruminant guys too, right? We're just they're limited on what they do have available. So having something that's a little bit more specific that they can use. I mean, we always have to be be cautious when we tell them, you know, if you're using goat stuff, make sure it's goat stuff, using sheep stuff, make sure it's sheep stuff, or make sure it's compatible for the other species. So um, yeah, that's really good. You are more of your supplementation for a beef cattle, is it in the feedlot, or you have you said you had a mix of both using in pasture grass finition?

SPEAKER_00 14:13

Our initial sales right now are all pasture, and now we're moving in the feedlot sales, but we're trying to do more feedlot commercial trials to kind of like finest that uh feed composition element so we can max out the the ROI for the feedlots too. Right. Um but we've really been looking at the beef on dairy segment as a really interesting market segment. That makes sense because they are having trouble with efficiencies just because the genetics aren't they're very inefficient. Frankly sorry.

SPEAKER_02 14:43

Sorry to beef on dairy people listening, but you know it's true. Um yeah, but that's been really interesting. Their feed conversion they taste delicious. I'm sorry, maybe I shouldn't say that. But I'm like their their feed conversion not not great.

SPEAKER_00 14:57

So yeah, so I think like that's a segment where we've been looking more if they could use more of a boost than like a feedback that kind of has everything ironed out. Yeah, but yeah.

SPEAKER_01 15:08

But that's a good point because a lot of folks talk about you um your call animals that do go in, you know, sometimes putting some supplementation into them just gives you that added um economic value, you know, into them that makes sense, right? So sometimes having something that's gonna support that for them in that short period to make them a little bit.

SPEAKER_02 15:28

I mean, depending on the cost, if you can increase your feed efficiency by 25%, yeah, that that could be potentially a few extra, you know, points of margin on your, you know, on your bottom line. That can be with cattle nowadays, that could be a lot of money. So yeah, exactly.

SPEAKER_00 15:45

And I think we got lucky with the markets right now, too, that when we're going out to sell, everyone was a little had a little bit more appetite probably to innovate because the market's so good. Um, but we'll see over the next couple months too how that shifts. And we're moving into cow calf studies as well because of the maternity kind of implications with the mineral status and trying to see um you know, like drop weights or um those other factors.

SPEAKER_02 16:14

Because I think yeah, for cow calf operations, that's typically the area where they might have the most loss economically is in the yeah, we have a study that's starting here in the next few months, FYI, anybody in Nebraska listening and interested, where they're looking at like second-year cows, basically. I was like, you know, after their first heifer calf and breed back, so you know, efficiency or lack thereof, and then trying to figure out what what are the some of the issues. So yeah, and then Hawaiian culture, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 16:51

In Hawaiian culture, like women traditionally consume CV during pregnancy or during your year period. So it kind of is like we're like, okay, we're expecting that there's gonna be some sort of benefit, benefit potentially, yeah. That it works in humans. Yeah, yeah.

Scaling Up With Organic Certification

SPEAKER_01 17:10

So the last time when we visited you down there, you talked about a little bit about sort of scaling up and whatnot. And um, so what I mean, that's always a challenge. We're here in Hawaii, so bringing in things is always a little bit more expensive. Um, but you want to talk a little bit about what you guys have done? I mean, for one thing I must say, if anybody has never seen Yumko growing, it is so beautiful. Like it's so beautiful. And I'm one day, one day that's gonna be a wall somewhere in my house just so you can so pretty. Yeah, but um, so you want to talk a little bit about what you guys have done to sort of, I mean, you're wanting to, I know you were wanting to scale up.

SPEAKER_00 17:45

Um, so any updates on that area? Yeah, maybe just like a rundown of some of the elements that went into developing the Limoko growing process. So um I guess historically it's been mostly maintained on coastlines and like picked for food consumption, but there hasn't been any like modern aquaculture version of producing Limokohu. So we had to develop all of our own genetics um to do that and domesticate the species from the wild. So that took a while. Um, I think that like when I talked to ranchers when I mentioned that, they're like, You did what? And I'm like, Yeah, we had to domesticate this thing before we can start growing it. So um that took like two years in itself, and then we had to develop um a growing process for it that was reliable. Um, like that kind of took another two years. So it's basically like seven stages, each stage gets larger in volume, and as the lead multiplies and grows, we transition it to a larger um stage. And then maybe two or three years ago, we um went through the USD organic certification process, which was really unique for us as well. I think given some of the consumer like sentiment around these types of products, it was really important for us to commit to like a natural approach and not a synthetic compound approach. So doubling down on the organic narrative, I think really helps us like communicate safety. And now with the regenerative movement, also it's like big alignment with regenerative products. Um, and we're the only organic certified methane reducing product in the market globally, which is pretty cool. Oh, that's pretty exciting. Yep, so that's kind of another one of the markets that we're going after, and then we've scaled initially from like maybe 200 head production in early 2025. Now we're close to like 2,000 head of production, and we're trying to get to 25,000 head of production by April. So that's exciting. A lot's happening on the ground right now. We have equipment coming in and being commissioned. Um, and then it really comes down to like operations at that point. It's like, okay, we have all the infrastructure, we know what we need to do, but can we um get everyone on the same page? And quality assurance becomes like a whole bigger department than it was previously, where um, you know, we're not our RD facility anymore, like every harvest. Right, you need to be coming in an actual yeah, yeah, yeah. And we have customers that we have to deliver to regularly, so like we can't stop supply at any point. You have to make sure your all your ducks are in a row. That's a lot of lot of work. And then I think because a lot of the um feed suppliers in the sector are so huge already, like us coming in as a smaller player, like we really have to um confirm to our customers that, like, hey, we are gonna have product for you because we're not a cargo, we don't have hundreds of years of moving big feed materials around. Like, we're kind of this you know, small startup in Hawaii growing a novel feed ingredient. So I think communicating reliability of supply has also been a focus of ours as we're going to market.

Hawaii Adoption And Generational Change

SPEAKER_01 21:12

Yeah, I think that's uh a big part, right? And I think that kind of leads me into what I was gonna ask you because um I guess you know, working in Hawaii and looking at things here can be very different, right? Versus what's going on in the mainland systems. Um so what's what sort of things have you learned that you know maybe it's gonna work better here, work better there? And you guys have made adjustments, I'm sure. You want to share?

SPEAKER_00 21:35

I think yeah. After we saw the efficiency data, um it like was clear to us that we wanted to make sure we were implementing here first. So, like probably half of our customers are in Hawaii. And the sales have been a lot easier here because I think people have heard about us for longer. So they've kind of been waiting. Now that we have all the commercial data to validate what we were saying, they can trust. In the product. Now that more people are using it too, I know that they're like calling each other maybe before they sign with us to get a better understanding. But I think also we know that like feed security is a huge issue, and to be utilizing a native crop as a feed additive as well, depending on who the cowboy is at the operation, like they're stoked, like they want to be feeding locally mood instead of a mineral. And um, I think too, when you tie it back to like culturally, like this was consumed for health benefits, and we can see the same thing in cattle, it it makes it like a prideful thing because none of your other like inputs typically are coming from the island necessarily besides nerd pasture. Um so I think depending on you know the character, there's a lot of interest. We notice that there's like oftentimes a little bit of a generational gap. So um now that like we're kind of getting into the industry, I would say like about 20% of people in decision-making um positions are like my age now, which is super cool. Because when we go there, they're like, we're on board. Like, if it was up to us, like you guys would be delivering this product today, like, but we still need to get approval from you know the higher up, which might be a little bit more old school and might not like be as open to trialing this concept, just be a might be a little bit more risk averse, yeah. Exactly. So that's been kind of interesting to like follow the dynamics, but it's exciting too. And I think when we go to all these conferences and they see us like younger people kind of rolling up their, I can also feel a sense of relief that the next generation is like stepping up and being part of the industry. And so we find a lot of people like kind of voluntarily supporting us, like nutritionists want to be there and giving us feedback for free and like supporting us, introducing us to people. So I think they there's a realization that the product has a lot of value nutritionally, but we still need to like tweak it a little bit more to get it like perfect for widespread.

SPEAKER_01 24:16

Right, yeah, yeah. That's I don't know. I was it's good to hear. I think the generational um differences are are definitely there. I mean, Shannon and I talk about it, but you know, I I I think that's the important part because we do, you know, there's sudden be there needs to be someone that's gonna be willing and able to take over, you know, when things need to turn. So it's good, it's good to hear. And I think there's a lot of innovative things that can improve efficiencies across um different production systems. So it's good to know. Um yeah, I think well, I can ask you, I can keep asking you questions to be honest, but but I guess there's um, you know, I I I going back to some of the research stuff, and have most of the research trials been done on adult animals or what what age range? Because I know there's some, there's a lot of talk. I mean, Shannon talked about the heifers, right, breeding back, but we also talk about our our wean offs and things and the stress that they go through during that weaning stage. Has there any research been looked at sort of how nutritionally this can help support them during that period?

SPEAKER_00 25:22

We have a few ranchers right now that want to implement just for that, especially folks doing cow calf operations and shipping from Hawaii because they want that add-end health before shipping off. Um and I again it's operation by operation depending on what their other management practices are. Like some people might that might be their biggest problem on the ranch, like a couple miles down the road. That might have never been a problem for them. So I think it just really depends on the operation. But I think now with the amount of data that we have, people feel comfortable purchasing it for the value. And then usually we'll step in and be like, okay, here's a couple things you could measure. Maybe this is data you're already collecting, and we'll do the analysis for you, or like we'll provide support so that you can understand if it's actually working for the reason you wanted it to work. Um, and then parasite reduction has been a huge selling point, especially, especially with like the sheep producers they're like buying on the spot. It was, yeah. Oh, yeah, with parasite reduction. And we have really great data on fecal egg count reduction um in sheep. We don't have it in beef cattle yet either. So it's kind of like you know, we have enough of a value prop that we know it's gonna make you money back just on the gains, and then depending on their goals of their operation, we'll kind of help them establish a little bit of a trial so they can see if they're gonna get that benefit too.

SPEAKER_01 26:48

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Yeah. That's two birds and one stone is always a good thing.

SPEAKER_00 26:53

Yeah, yeah. Yeah. I'm excited. We're gonna do a pink eye study in California in the summer, where some operations have a lot of um labor involved in doctoring animals for pink eye.

SPEAKER_02 27:04

So yeah. I was just thinking, I was at the Nebraska Sustainable Egg Society, their conference like a few couple weeks ago. And uh obviously I was speaking about finance and record keeping for them, but but I was just like, I there were I I can imagine several people there that I spoke to being very excited about the potential availability of a product like this. So if someone is interested on the mainland or on Big Island, is it can do they just email you? Can they call you? Is is it available? Because you're scaling up, I mean, pretty, pretty massively from what it sounds like. So because I I mean, to be honest, a couple years ago when we went, I thought it was pretty big. So, but you're right, in order to feed like people, I was like, the a lot of cows. That's what I'm gonna say. There's more cows here than people. It's like there's a lot of cows, you know.

How To Buy, Follow, And Support

SPEAKER_00 27:58

So yeah, yeah. Um, so we have a scheduling link on our website, www.saprosia.co, and you can schedule meeting with Katie, who's our sales rep, and she'll kind of walk you through all the benefits and the pricing, and then you can get started on the project if you're interested. Um, and then we are, I guess I didn't mention this, but we're planning to expand in Kona. We're in permitting process right now for a 15-acre seaweed farm. Wow. Um which will hopefully um increase by 50 jobs in the aquaculture sector. So a big focus of ours has been workforce development as well. I mean, we talk about feed security, but um, there's a lot of different security needs um out here. And I think that one thing we've been trying to communicate more to ranchers too is like we are kind of an we are an agricultural producer as well. Like my main metrics are yield and seaweed quality. So um I think we've been like having more discussions around that of like, oh, if they buy the product, they're also supporting local ag expansion and workforce development. So um I think Hawaii's good in that way, like supporting local or developing local opportunities.

SPEAKER_01 29:15

Yeah, yeah. That's green. Wow, that's that's exciting, Alexia. That's really exciting.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

And I know I always think it was like, I need to plan another visit back and we should come back.

SPEAKER_00 29:24

I know. I'm like excited, but I'm just waiting for the whole commission process. I thought that's gonna be exciting, but yeah, I bet.

SPEAKER_01 29:33

Lot of a lot of moving parts, um a lot of things that need to fall into place, but it's exciting to see. Um were you guys, you know, speaking with you guys a few years ago and now where you are and um all the research you guys have done and the product, you know, it's it's I'm excited for you guys, um, and to see how that's gonna um, you know, be used and be being used by producers locally as well as across the state. So um, so for any ranchers or producers listening um and wants to follow the research or whatnot, what what should they watch for next um and where should they go to see what's going on?

SPEAKER_00 30:10

Yeah, we have a Facebook and an Instagram page called Feed Sea Graze. That's our product name. So that's more the rancher-focused content. We kind of split our marketing so that we're launching more trial data or like product data that's relevant. So definitely recommend following us um on those two platforms, Feed Sea Graze, and then connect with our sales team. Um Katie's super amazing. She's a fifth generation rancher out of California, so she really understands um like what we need to do with the product, and she's been doing a great job um getting that into more operation. So um, yeah, encourage our schedule meeting with her as well.

SPEAKER_01 30:48

Awesome. Well, thank you um for taking the time to come talk story with us today. And anything else you want to share before we close off?

SPEAKER_00 30:58

Um no, thanks so much for having me, and thanks for continuing to support the industry with opportunities like this. I'm excited to see what happens over the next couple of years as we continue to increase the lee supply and get it into our ranches.

SPEAKER_02 31:12

I know it's so exciting to see you guys grow so much. So yeah. All right. Well, thank you for joining us. Make sure to follow us on our social media pages, the Livestock Vala Ow and Livestock Extension Group if you haven't already. Be sure to visit the UHCTAR extension website and our YouTube channel listed in the show notes.

SPEAKER_01 31:29

That's right. For additional information about this or other topics or comments, send us an email at Valao at Hawai'i.edu. And thanks again for listening to the Livestock Vala Ow.

SPEAKER_02 31:38

Yep. Before we go, show some love for your favorite podcast. Hopefully that's us by leaving us a review wherever you listen to this, and then stay tuned for the next episode.

SPEAKER_01 31:46

That's right. Thanks again to our sponsors, the Livestock Extension Group of the University of Hawai'i Manoa College of Tropical Agriculture and Human Resilience, and the Center for Ag Profitability of the University of Nebraska. Mahalo for listening. Aui ho. Aui ho.