Selling Farm Land: Drones, Technology & Telling The Farm's Story Feat. Mike Reeve
The Farmland Exchange the official podcast of CLHBidcom Expert insights on buying and selling farmland in Western Canada.
Devon Davidson:Welcome back to the Farmland Exchange, the official podcast of CLHBidcom, where we provide expert insights on the process of selling and buying farmland across Western Canada. I'm Devon Davidson, digital media strategist and host of this podcast. Today we are going to be talking about marketing and drones and technology in farmland sales. We're going to touch on photography, aviation and a few other things along the way. So joining me on today's podcast. Welcome back, roy Carter, ceo at clhbidcom. Roy, how are you Great? Thanks, Devon. Yeah, thanks for being here and then making his first appearance on the show. Mike Reeve, media producer.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, that's right. So thanks for being here, mike. Yeah, thanks for having me, Devon.
Devon Davidson:I've always been on the other side of the podcast recording you and now I'm under the hot seat, but it's um glad to be here. It's lots to talk about. It's good to have you here. Uh, before we dive into whatever we're gonna get into today, uh, maybe just let our listeners know a little bit about yourself, who you are, where you're from, yeah, so born and raised right here in the peace country.
Mike Reeve:Roy and i's history go back a long ways and we've known each other. Uh, I've been fortunate to call you a friend for a really long time and when this idea of clh bid came up, he kind of reached out, being that I was a peace country boy and we'd worked on some media productions in the past and that sort of thing. So it was really cool to see this idea from inception to where we are today recording this podcast here at the centennial carter farm. I want to point that out that we're in the studio here.
Mike Reeve:Ally was gracious enough to give us, lend us, her tack which works out really good for a portable studio here for this podcast?
Devon Davidson:Absolutely yeah, You've been involved basically from day one maybe. Yeah, Talk about that a little bit how Roy approached you and yeah.
Roy Carter:So maybe I'll interject there. But he said he joined the team because he's a local boy or peace country, Not really. I mean we hooked up because he's a world-class videographer and been to Chile and around the world. You know New Zealand doing videography, sometimes extreme videography, you know, one of the best in the world, certainly as far as sledding. So that's really we knew we wanted to go to a different level as far as marketing if we were going to get into space. So definitely it wasn't the case of hiring a local kid, it was hiring the best, right, you go ahead yeah, I appreciate that, roy.
Mike Reeve:So yeah, taking us back a couple of decades now um I went to college, uh got a business degree and ended up uh pursuing my passion, which was filmmaking and started a filmmaking production company here in the peace country and it that passion took me into extreme sports, like Roy was talking about, mainly snowmobiling, yeah so, and that's taken me around the world. And then jet boat racing has been a big part of that too, and that's taken me down to New Zealand a number of times in Australia in different areas and it's been a pile of fun. And then taking all that knowledge of the production work that I've gained over the few decades of doing that professionally, um, to come to bring that to clh bid was like so much fun because it was a new challenge. Roy said he always wanted to do stuff at a higher level and I think we see that at clh bid. Everything's done at this like really well to do level and that's.
Mike Reeve:I think you know that's what people deserve with when it comes to selling the farm and you know they've got generations of history into this farm, so it's like we want to do it right yeah and when roy carter tells you that, then you kind of get the green light to get creative and, like you know, you put your best foot forward and I think that's what we did with bringing all that knowledge of production work to it, and it was pretty cool because it did shake up the industry a little bit off the bat, I think. Eh, roy.
Roy Carter:Oh yeah, and I mean from your point of view, it's not as exciting as hanging off a skid in a helicopter with a bungee cord on your back.
Roy Carter:you know shooting riverboats doing 120. So I do appreciate that and a big deal though I think your background grounded you also worked in the patch you background grounded, you also worked in the patch um, you get it. You know you can go to farms and you know we get great feedback. It's like, yeah, talking to mike about cars and you know mike's racing background and stuff, so you know, that's just. You just don't send anybody with a drone to a farm and kind of hit it off, um, because because, again, it's, it's their life, it's everything to them and uh, they got to feel totally comfortable with the whole team and uh, so appreciate that how you work with farmers.
Mike Reeve:I appreciate that, roy and I. When Roy alludes to some of the other production work that I've done, other listeners might've seen it. But uh, you know, like companies like sled next or five, oh nine, I've been producing with them for over 15 years now. So that's, you know, in the winter world, which is a ton of fun, and again it's just bringing that expertise of, like, how do you film that sort of stuff, how do you make it entertaining, you know?
Mike Reeve:how do you make it worth watching and then bringing that over and roy mentioned the jet boat stuff and we probably shouldn't get on too much of a tangent here.
Mike Reeve:This is good listeners want to hear more about the farmland and what we do with drones. But the uh river boating stuff is a lot of fun. The technology that they have in there and how we're having to capture that, like roy said, underestimating 160 mile an hour river boats, you know, flying up and down, and we're filming them from traditional helicopters yeah, the only reason we're not using drones in the current technology in that market is just because the drones don't have the distance, you know, to keep up with some of the boats.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, um, but it's. Yeah, it's a ton of fun to again take all that production work and apply it here to clh absolutely well, so changing gears, like for you how?
Devon Davidson:that's a big difference, you know going at that speed. So now you're filming farmland, roy, wasn't?
Mike Reeve:kidding when he said, yeah, like how does it go from like a stationary big object like a 3200 acre farm to, uh, you know, a 3200 horsepower jet boat going up and down the river, uh, but it is like it's a similar challenge and like how, how do you best portray that to the audience? You know, like you have a totally different audience there, sure, but I think people appreciate, like what they're watching is going to be something worth watching and I think, like whether it's a, a piece of dirt on the ground, like some people can just, like you know, walk over and not think anything of it. That dirt means a lot to a lot of people and there's a lot of history there. And it's like how do you pull that out? How do you tell that story? What's the history there? You know, like what is that dirt substantial to them?
Devon Davidson:so let's maybe peel the onion back a little bit there. Let's talk about your process when it comes to the dirt telling a story. How do you get into that?
Mike Reeve:yeah, and I think it's. It maybe wasn't like 100 natural for me to like approach the productions the way we do, but I have to hand it off to roy. It was just like he was the one that maybe paved the way and allowed me to see that and then, as the other team members and CLH bid grew over the years, it's just like, and these people have a real ability to value that land, to see that story, to really give it justice for what its value is, and that's like that's talking to the parents, the grandparents, the whoever the current tenant is or whoever, and it's just like it's very interesting to do that and that's because of Roy and his vision to begin with, like, yeah, really paying dues to what that land is. And, roy, you're like a third generation farmer, as it is, so you can attest to that personally.
Roy Carter:Yeah, but I mean, you've been amazing there as far as Mike even gives great feedback now to the scriptwriters. Yeah, you know, um, we're going into our ninth year but, um, at the start, uh, mike and I would do quite a bit of road trips together and, uh, you know, some amazing times together oh yeah I still recall we were um selling a ranch down close to sweetgrass montana on the Canadian side.
Mike Reeve:I don't know if we have enough podcast length for this story.
Roy Carter:The owner of the ranch. We left Milk River and he didn't like my driving, so he told Mike once we got to his ranch that Roy was not to drive back and Mike was going to drive.
Mike Reeve:He didn't know Mike was a race car driver. I believe he agreed to the sale. Yep, okay, see you later. You guys can sell my land only if he drives it back and roy. You sit in the back of the truck. Oh yeah, no, we were on a mission.
Roy Carter:We were kind of jumping around. But that richard, uh, we were talking to him and mike got out to drone and again the respect mike's asking him about the farm and he gives that to the script writers and that.
Roy Carter:And he was telling us about his girls and he had three girls who were now about 45 or whatever yeah and mike's out droning and it was a skiff of snow, yeah, and the farm yard was, uh, nobody was living there anymore.
Roy Carter:Everybody left and he was living in town with his wife in milk river. But anyway, I was saying so, richard, when you look at that yard, you see three little girls running around, eh, and it was quiet and I looked over and there was tears coming down his cheeks and he just said, roy, if we're going to get this sold, you got to quit talking like that, right? And so, yeah, two deals to get. The deal was one I couldn't drive back and the other one he wouldn't let us put up any signs. He just said I can't deal with signs right now. But yeah, yeah, the big part of it at the end of it was mike's videography telling the story about the farm and they, they've got that as a keepsake, right yeah, you talk about that sweetgrass area and, like you ask a videographer, hey, can you make this?
Mike Reeve:look at skiff, the snow, like you mentioned? So it was, you know, november, december time of year, um, so we're dealing with weather and we'll talk about that a little bit more because it isn't like the perfect time to sell.
Mike Reeve:You know to go out and farm but there also isn't a really bad time either, and you know, today or right now could be the perfect time, but anyway, um, going out there and seeing those, the sweetgrass mountains, you know, in the Hills in the background and skiff of snow, little stubble sticking up, we still use some of that footage to this day and some of our marketing material and what I'm getting at is just like that was sweetgrass.
Mike Reeve:But then there's chilliwack and then there's, you know, manitoba and what his hit ass offer around winnipeg, and it's just like I'm I consider myself extremely fortunate to be able to see intimately all these nooks and crannies throughout western canada. Just like it's a real dream to fly your drone through some of these areas and to be able to see it. You know whether it's you got a combine and harvest or you know you're seeding in the spring, or like there's so much beauty out there. And it's just like a filmmaker's a dream really to be able to see all this and capture all. It's a real privilege honestly.
Devon Davidson:Privilege honestly, and I can say that a little bit right. I've only been here for a year now, roughly, but just for me to be able to get to some of these areas to go and fly my drone in places. I never thought I would right out in BC in the mountains and stuff. It's like I never had envisioned this for my profession. And sometimes my wife likes to joke that I get paid to take pictures of fields, but you know, it's like that is part of it.
Mike Reeve:But I mean it's, it's a lot of fun right well, and I'm glad we're talking with this and we have a long format to get into some more of the detail, because it's like from the outside, looking in, it's just like, oh, you film farmland, oh, that must be pretty boring.
Mike Reeve:Well, you don't get to meet the people, you don't get to hear the stories you don't get to like, understand what that means to a whole third generation family, sit at the kitchen table with them, which is a huge privilege, like I get to do that and I get to see, see and hear these stories. It's just like, okay, now press the green light and try and go out there and you capture this. Yeah to what the stories they were saying. Yeah, like, and in a short format. People are busy these days. We try and get it online, we're trying to advertise this and it's just like how do you capture all these elements of this realm of this? You know, 100 year old farm yeah, in this short 10 minute video, you know, and it's tough to capture all the nuance right of that sale.
Roy Carter:Yeah we sold for a fellow four or five years ago. He had never seen his farm from the air and, uh, unbelievable. It's stuff we take for granted. But we took him the laptop, a bridget and I of Mike's video production with the script and the voiceover and that, and he just wanted to know the button to hit for replay all the time, and he must have watched it 10 times before he'd talked to us.
Devon Davidson:Wow.
Roy Carter:And he'd never, ever seen it from the air and it was time to leave and he'd got a place in town but just awestruck with it right.
Devon Davidson:How important, Roy or Mike, is it for potential buyers to see that film, to see that piece of property from the air?
Mike Reeve:I think we've seen a big shift, even going on nine years in my time here, of like there's potential bidders or buyers that don't even necessarily need to walk that land anymore because of the technology and what we're providing them like high-res stills, you know all the information written out, a nice video of it, and then the whole legal team to you know do the due diligence in the behind the scenes of actually like writing everything out and you know explaining it really well. It's just like that's really interesting to watch that happen. That happen. You know where technology is really providing them. That like, yeah, I guess it's just like a security blanket essentially from doesn't matter if you're downtown calgary and winnipeg looking at you know land in bc. It's like you kind of get all the nitty-gritty of that for sure so we so sorry, devon.
Devon Davidson:No, I was gonna ask you, roy, sorry to cut you off, but how have you seen that over time, like has it opened up a market that you maybe didn't think was possible 10 years ago?
Roy Carter:You know, when we went, you know, 10, 11 years ago to build CLHBid, we didn't see list working, we didn't see tender working, we didn't see auction working. You know, auction was often a map with a yellow marker as to the squares that are being sold, right, and they were just squares, often like an appraisal we'll have right. And we knew if we were going to get into it, we wanted to take it to a different level. So Mike had the vision of scriptwriters, voice actors. I mean we had a lady a few years ago that said you can sell my farm, but only if I have that guy's voice. And it was like, yeah, only if I have that guy's voice. And uh, it was like, yeah, you can have that guy's voice. And uh, but mike's put that all together.
Roy Carter:But we sold a ranch probably three years ago and uh, it went exceptionally well. It sold sort of outside of the local area and uh, a couple professionals bought it and they called afterwards and they were on a link call. They were in two different cities but they were both in Alberta and they said, um, she said, is there a house on that ranch? And I was like, really, you're asking me if there's a house on it. There's no house. And then she, she, uh, said well, my husband wants to talk to you. He was on the link call and he said would it be good for cattle? And it was like, yeah, it's a ranch, good moisture, lots of grass. And I said like you guys haven't looked at this, eh? And it was like two and a half million. And they said no, we haven't looked at it, we just saw the video. And I said so when are you going to come and look at it? And yeah, we're going to go rent a helicopter.
Roy Carter:We'll fly up, rent a helicopter go look at it and I said you guys been watching Yellowstone, eh, and they laughed and it was like, yeah, we've been watching Yellowstone Unbelievable eh. Wow.
Mike Reeve:Yeah. Yeah, Not all sales go that way, but some buyers are in that position.
Roy Carter:That's an example of you know, literally for people like that, mike can capture that better than walking three miles across pasture right.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, can capture that better than walking three miles. Yeah, uh, across pasture, right, yeah. And even if you do walk the land, the perspective the drones give from the air, you know it can highlight things that you didn't even know were there. Sometimes even farmers didn't even really see it from that perspective themselves in the last 50 years of being there. So, yeah, it is really interesting to to give that perspective and, you know, to be able to have someone walk the land without even having to be there, it's, it's, it's a game changer, for sure. And mike understands light and, uh, you know, to be able to have someone walk the land without even having to be there, it's a game changer, for sure.
Roy Carter:And Mike understands light. And you know you go to the farm at the right time of day. I mean we've all driven on a paved highway, we're at really low light, just before dark. You can see ruts in the road, in the pavement, right Down the middle, and you know that's not really what the road looks like, but it does at that certain light level where it's coming straight across Right, and that's where you know Michael I know you're conscious of all that stuff hitting it at the right light and, uh, doing it right.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, you don't often think when you watch the end product you know why the voice artist highlights that or why you flew that direction or what you know, know it looks so seamless and that's when you got a you know a decent operator behind the camera. It's just like you don't know they're there you know, you don't even think of that sort of stuff, because it looks so natural, and that's when we know we're doing a good job.
Devon Davidson:It's what you don't even think about it well and I was going to say, uh, the barrier to entry, a drone. Now the cost is not that high anymore. But it's one thing to have a drone, it's another thing to have a good operator, someone who has an eye. We talk about billy all the time is having, you know, that eye and mike. You're very much the same right, very conscious of those.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, the whole team, I mean amos, billy, yourself, devon, yeah, um, it's really cool. We have to cover a big geographical area in western canada yeah all four provinces, it's.
Mike Reeve:It's a lot of farmland out there, uh, so we're fortunate to have a really cool team, yeah, and I'm very excited to get your guys' footage into the editing studio and be able to work the magic from the back end to actually put all this together with the script that's written and James' voice and then what you guys put out, or myself or whatever drone. It's really cool to use technology for that advantage. So, coming back to barrier to entry, you, like anyone, can grab a drone, sure? Is it cinematic? Well, I think that's the difference is like why did you get into droning? And we've met so many people we do work with other contractors as well and it's just like why did you get into droning? Well, the drones were there, I kind of like rcs, and I've used them. Okay, so you don't have a photography or filming background and it's and it. It is sometimes evident with drone operators and, yeah, I think a lot of people, yeah I grabbed a drone.
Roy Carter:You know, they're really cool you could do that, sure yeah it's awesome, but, um, yeah, drones to me.
Mike Reeve:When I started in video production it was standard definition, then went to high definition, then went to 4k and throughout all that time you're trying to get creative and you're trying to move the camera in such a way that you want the audience to go with the actor or whatever is transpiring through that film for sure, with the drones it opened up so many doors, so many doors, and I can remember some stories early days of drones, octocopters. They were worth 120 000.
Mike Reeve:We were down in utah and we were using one and it was more cumbersome to bring that drone up the mountain to do filming in the back country than it was to just hire a traditional helicopter and I will talk, talk more about traditional helicopters because they've served a big purpose in filmmaking, but at that point I'd probably logged two or three hundred hours filming, like roy said, with the door off and standing on the skid of a traditional helicopter various sizes and capacities. I knew what they were capable of, and when drones started coming out, I was very excited because I was like, oh, you could fly through, you know, under trees and different areas where you're not going to put a million dollar helicopter with people in it. Um, so yeah, it was really exciting, but it had a learning curve to come, like everything else with technology and they're really cumbersome, really big, really expensive.
Mike Reeve:The operators didn't really want to fly them in, you know, dangerous let's call it situations or whatever low proximity, um, so it was really limiting but thankfully, fast forward to when, you know, roy came up with the genius idea of creating clhbidcom Drones, had come to a point where we started actually using a traditional helicopter on some of our first jobs. Yeah, and you know we've've, we're fortunate enough to have the experience, knowing what they're capable of. We go out, we film these big ranches and things like that. But you know, it would like dawn on me. I was like you know what, roy, do you mind if I I try using one of my newer drones to see if this would be adequate for it? And roy was had the trust in me. He said yeah, which I was very fortunate for.
Mike Reeve:Um, and what that drone could do to show off that farmland was night and day. Yeah, it was like you mentioned, like the cinematography of it to tell that story, to reveal those areas, to get down into, like the subtle nuances of what that ranch, in this case, had to offer for farmers. It was like it was pretty cool to see what it was able to do because from a traditional helicopter you're at least a thousand feet above surface and everything's looking pretty flat. Yep, you know, and you're trying to steady, you're trying to do all that, but the drones allow a little bit more intimacy to get down to that ground level. What does that soil look like? You know, what do the crops look like that summer?
Devon Davidson:it's almost like they're walking through the field. Oh, totally yeah, absolutely what does that fence line look?
Mike Reeve:a lot of times we're down next to the fence. We're showing off what it looks like, and it's way more efficient to do that than you could never do it with a traditional helicopter, even just in terms of logistics, you know, now you've got to schedule a helicopter you got it like you know all of it, it's just cost efficiency, all those things coming to play right, yeah
Roy Carter:you're editing, mike. You know I don't know every, like you say, everybody after, after the iPhone 2 is a photographer, right, videographer, everything you know there's hardly any more SLRs or whatever out there, which is kind of my space, but the editing, I think, is 80% or more right. Yeah, putting that together, the way you put it together, is unbelievable right, and it just blows people away buyers and sellers, right, yeah, right. Yeah, you know, sellers like the way you showcase their place and again, we have billy and amos and out there. Generally, though, it goes to your desk for editing, which is, uh, takes it to that, uh, top level right yeah, I'm pretty proud to say that.
Mike Reeve:You know, every project that we worked on from day one at clh has come across my desk at one point, like it's a true, like I'm, yeah, truly grateful to have that opportunity to do it, because it's farmland lacrosse, western canada, they're, they mean a ton to everyone, and you know the farmers that are selling these it's, it's huge, it's a part of their family you know it's like we're talking on some of the other podcasts.
Mike Reeve:It's just like it's a member of the family when you go to sell it and we get it. We and we try and put our best foot forward every time. So the editing is just like you get excited, you get jazzed up on it because you want to get that to the sellers and say like here's your product, here's what we're selling.
Roy Carter:And a lot of times they turn around and say we don't want to sell it because they've fallen back in love with it. Yeah, often it's like, oh, maybe we shouldn't sell it after listening to that.
Mike Reeve:It's like getting an old pickup detailed before you sell it. You look at it again. You're like that doesn't actually look that bad. Maybe I won't sell it yeah.
Devon Davidson:No, I can say, mike, I'm I'm thoroughly impressed with how serious you take all of that across your desk. I know how many requests I send to you for different formats and things and you're always so quick about getting back. It's like, yeah, I need a nine by nine by 16, 15 second clip. And you're like, yeah, I'll get it. And 15 minutes later here's mike and it's like it's just done perfectly so yeah, that comes back to again technology.
Mike Reeve:We're at the right place at the right time. Like clh bid, you know the concept of it yeah in the marketplace today? Would it have worked 20 years ago? When, you know, before iphones were really prevalent, before people were out in the fields combining with an iphone in their hand or looking?
Mike Reeve:at social media with, you know, high speed data everywhere it's. It's the right place at the right time and I think it was like a good synergy of. Like clh bid was the right idea at the right time. I think any earlier and it probably would have shook the market too much that people didn't have confidence in the system. Yeah, but that and the technology that we can offer on the marketing side and how we're capturing these farms today couldn't have been done 20 years ago either at this capacity.
Devon Davidson:No, that's that's a great point, mike, because it has changed on both sides, right? So you're looking at the technology we're using, but then the way that people are using technology while they're in the field so gps, and now they're driving down the field, they're, they're scrolling their phones and and that's made the the marketing more accessible for us as well.
Devon Davidson:To get that message out there yeah so just quickly on drones though, like how much has that changed and what sort of challenges are we still facing in terms of we talked about this yesterday like cold weather drones?
Mike Reeve:yeah, that's still not really a thing yeah, so there's a lot of things to take into account. So I'm an advanced operator in western canada. You know we got a variety of drones, everything from minis to, you know, traditional mavics and cinnies and all the way up to inspires and different things like that. So, yeah, our drones ranged from 250 grams up to, you know, over 10 pounds in size, pretty large, you know, four feet diameter wingspans and things like this. Um, so, pretty impressive, pretty cool, and again thanks to maybe bridget and roy, maybe more Bridget for greenlighting all these concepts with the accountant, yeah, or.
Mike Reeve:CFO for greenlighting all these, when we come to her and say, like man, we got this idea for this new. You know, this will bring um way more to our cinema side of things and showing off the farms. Can we do this? And I think the ownership group is always like, really eager to really push. And again it's just comes back to like how can we tell that story better, how can we showcase that farmer ranch better for these farmers? And yeah, again we get it. It's over a hundred year old, a hundred years old at some time. So it's just like you gotta.
Roy Carter:You can't just show up with an iPhone, like Roy's talking about, and pretend you're an editor Like you want to show these off well and buyers are busy, you know, on the smaller, you know where there are investors and that often I mean they're busy and they want to see that in their boardroom or at home or whatever. You know it's not uncommon on single quarters, maybe along a river or something, that there might be some wreck interest. I know in one case it was along a river and a guy bought it and I asked him about it and he was like where did you see it? And he said on my wife's Facebook last night and again, never lucked out, he just bought it.
Roy Carter:And, Mike, I recall another one on the Burnt River, a couple during that heat dome about four years ago, river, a couple during that heat dome about four years ago. We went there and they had no running water in um, in their kind of summer cabin and a couple they were sitting older couple sitting around the backside in the shade holding hands on two lawn chairs. Wow and uh, my gets it. He took still photography of me afterwards but you just nailed it and uh, you know the buyer there. He called me afterwards and he was like, okay, um, when did you look at it? And didn't. But I, I saw it and we want it. And what's your story?
Roy Carter:and it's like oh, we build high rises in vancouver italian family yeah and that was mike putting that together for that couple and it was a game changer. You you know they wanted to move away, they had to dream of getting enough money to move to BC and uh, it happened, in large part because Mike had a package that could get into boardrooms in Vancouver, Right yeah. And uh, there's no way those people are catching a plane to go look at a quarter in Northern Alberta.
Mike Reeve:Right, no, I, yeah, thanks for bringing that up Right. I remember that day vividly. Is you know again, peace, peace, country. Kids growing up and knowing the saddle Hills in that region and you're always like man, that is really cool land, whether you're hunting or snowmobiling or quadding or whatever, it's really cool area. So you get the opportunity to go up there again. We talk about, like get to see these cool um slivers of Western Canada and that couple, like you mentioned. I got to spend the day with them and passion, you the day with them and passion, you talk about passion, how much they love that land right.
Mike Reeve:yeah, and one thing that I want to mention on the podcast is again being lucky to be able to go and see these farms, and we were gonna with an amazing team that don't always get to go meet all the farmers and everything in person or go get to see the farm, so I consider myself extremely fortunate for that. But there's a lot of times where I try and grab pictures of the current owners, you know, or the family members and send them back to the team and that's huge. And then you always get feedback from the team members to say like thanks so much for sending the pictures of the people.
Mike Reeve:They don't go public, it's not something that we're marketing but it's for internal purposes for our team, because each and every one of the team members at CLH value that so much and they get it, they know what it means and the the people behind it right, and they love to see it. So, yeah, you share those pictures and the team's so thankful for that. It's it's. It's cool to see that everyone shares that same passion totally yeah, I was actually really impressed.
Devon Davidson:That was one of the reasons I was so excited to join clh was there's so many people that are just into photography and cinematography and all of these things, and so I wanted to touch on that right, because I, because I know photography is close to your heart. Maybe talk a little bit about how you got into that and just what it means to you.
Roy Carter:Yeah, totally. Thanks, Devon. I first really got into it through flying On the farm. I had a stint and tail dragger, so you got a high wing. So I used to kind of do as Christmas gifts I'd go take pictures of farms and just for clients of mine, friends, whatever, and started learning a bit of f-stop and stuff and like that. And then ended up going on a fishing trip to Alaska with a good friend of mine, nick Van Galen, a Dutch fellow that's got a big name in Red Angus. Anyway, he'd taken a photography class before we went to Alaska and we came back and we met at a little pub in Grand Prairie and he was showing me his pictures and it was like I got a picture of that same bear, but yours is way better, right.
Roy Carter:And I didn't know f-stop at that time and he was shooting at about 2.8. So I liked to learn and went and took some courses and I went from there so got pretty serious into still photography and that's actually how mike and I met, okay, uh, many years ago, probably just about 20 years ago yeah, if
Roy Carter:not longer yeah, mike was the big name for video and then I wanted to learn a bit and uh, but we did some stuff together and that's where we kind of hit it off.
Roy Carter:And, and you know from there, one of the other guys on the team, amos Wiebe. He's famous, amos is on the internet but world-renowned photographer in animal photography Northern Lights owls yes, you know, and he self-taught. He came to work on our farm when he was 13 years old. Came to work on our farm when he was 13 years old and, uh, he actually went to the glass um, um, post office, took a pail, stood on it, put his name up, that he was looking for work because he was only about three feet high and uh, nick, again van galen, my friend, went in there and it was like, oh, this mennonite fellow must be six feet high and I'll call him and see if he wants to go to work and he went to pick him up and this kid walked out and he thought it was the guy's son and it was amos at 13, but anyway it's.
Roy Carter:It's uh, ellie, my daughter calls him a brother from another mother, but he, he started doing some photography with me and you know, by 14 I would say he passed me. Wow and uh, he just he's passionate about reading and learning light and seeing light. So you know, even on um, we won't take a home quarter if there's a big timber frame or something like that. It's not our space, but often he does. He's really good at low light still photography. He does, as you know, a fair amount of good drone stuff. Uh, so again we've got uh, yeah, like you say, Devon so many on the team. Billy, who joined us a couple of years ago or so, incredible eye and how she puts stuff together. It's just, we're lucky.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, she's shaking up the Instagram world. Everyone loves to see her reels, I think people are looking forward to that now.
Devon Davidson:Yeah, a lot of good content from Billy. Yeah, if you're not following us on Instagram, make sure you do that. Check out the Instagram feeds because the reels are yeah, they're next level. Well, going back to Amos quickly, I remember you telling me a story, roy, about Amos, how he wanted to learn more about strobe lighting or something and you had a setup and he basically just took it and learned it in an afternoon. Oh yeah.
Roy Carter:I used to go to Santa Fe, new Mexico, once a year for a week and get immersed, and you would, I would. Mostly it was professional photographers. But you know, scare yourself. That's the best way to learn, right? Yeah, and I'd be. You know, I hardly knew how to put my camera on manual, and they're all doing it. I'd be just shaken. But by the end of the week I'd definitely learn more than everybody else because I was at a lower level, right, and so I would go and do strobe lights there and learn that you know low light at night to kind of the editorial shot and that, and.
Roy Carter:But it's, it's tough. It's their shoot. They shoot at about one five thou, and then you got to leave the shutter open and it's not easy. So, anyway, amos, I had all the gear. He comes to my office and says, uh, where's all your strobe lights and stuff? And I said, you know, in storage. And yeah, I'm gonna go teach myself. And I was like, yeah, that's not happening, good luck. And uh, so it was like, but you can go here, here's where they are. And I went down there and then, like seven hours later, and he had, uh, trigger, remote triggers for the strobe lights and that, and he was shooting himself outside and I started looking at it and it was like he had it figured out he got it and so it's.
Roy Carter:That's something. You can't send a kid to a puppy mill photography place and learn they got to have that yeah and, like farmers, understand that too. You got a talent at something. You're born with it. Yeah, he is just born with a good aptitude for photography and and patience. And again, you know we got so many much feedback from farmers. You know he's also our class one driver yeah, I was going to say Dropping vans, along with Allie, and you know they like that.
Roy Carter:he's got the time of day for them. He can talk about crops. He knows farming inside out.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, he loves sitting in a combine and harvest. Oh yeah, no, he's, he's well versed. We could talk about photography forever with Amos, but yeah he's class one and he loves farming and he's huge on social media platforms. For famous Amos he's so well-versed. It's a cool team.
Devon Davidson:Oh yeah, absolutely Just getting back into that discussion, Roy, about feedback from clients and stuff in terms of marketing. So I know you'd mentioned what are some of the things that they've liked about what we're doing in terms of marketing and maybe some of the areas where we've improved?
Roy Carter:yeah, you know, when we started, we again spent a year and a half or so getting feedback from sellers as to what they wanted. If we're going to build something just for farm and ranch, and that's the problem is, if you try and be walmart and sell lake lots and lawnmowers and that it all sort of gets lost and you can't really focus on photography. You know, shooting a baler is quite different than somebody's ranch, right? And so you know, we listened there and again, that's why we, you know, got Mike from the very first one we wanted to come out of the shoot, you know, at a fairly high level, and I think he kind of blew them away on our first sale. You know, at a fairly high level, and I think he kind of blew him away on our first sale. So, and then one thing they told us was you know, give us marketing at a level that sort of respects what we have, a lifetime of work and maybe my grandparents' work and my grandfather's, you know, or my dad's work, and they didn't see that with a Coroplast sign blown over in the ditch, with a listing realtor, and it was treated like a house in town. And it's not a house in town, right, it's like we talked about in an earlier podcast, it's like another person right and they wanted the respect that it was due. So you know we listened to that and, um, you know we went to our signage. I think we were two or three years before we could figure out a sign that would take the Cypress Hills winds. But you know, when we figured out, 1,500 pounds was too much for a block, 400 was not enough. We used 800-pound blocks with, you know, three-inch steel pipe and finally figured out the four-by-four material that'll take those winds. And it was a process but farmers appreciated it that you're really interested in showcasing it.
Roy Carter:And again, you know, as you know, coming from saskatchewan, a lot of the roads aren't. You know quite a few of the rm roads in that aren't. So what's a sign on a quarter or a half or something going to do? You know zero at some point, yeah. So you know we put signs in the area at key intersections. Yeah, with, you know, kenworth, tandem, Picker, and you know it just drives people to the site. It says land for sale and with an arrow yeah, but we can tell. If Amos goes out and puts up six signs around an area, farm for sale. We can tell by the hits on our website that night what's happening, right.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, and you see it immediately.
Roy Carter:Yeah, you're right, we'll get phone calls that afternoon.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, it's almost immediate.
Roy Carter:We have one now down by Sylvan Lake and we placed a 53-foot van it's along the highway between Bentley and Sylvan. Yeah, he placed it late at night last week and the phone was ringing by 8.30 the next morning.
Devon Davidson:Wow.
Roy Carter:People driving down that highway, right. So you know again, it works. We've got, I think, over 50 now 53-foot vans. So if we have land for sale with high exposure along the highway, you know people like it.
Mike Reeve:It's basically the marketing that that they asked for, right and we talk about signs and you know more traditional types, forms of media that people are familiar with in that region. But then I think the other thing that's been really cool to work with the team is like constantly pushing. We don't have all the answers you mentioned.
Mike Reeve:We're, I think, on version five of our signs because we're constantly improving them, but we're taking feedback, because we go into different areas in western canada and you're right, huge winds down south pincher creek area and stuff like that, um, but also on social media. So farmers, when you bring to them and say like, okay, we made this really cool video and you show them on their laptop, well, that's really cool. They want to show their friends, their neighbors, potential bidders. Right, we take it one step further and expand that all over social media you know, we want to make sure that every potential bidder is present on sale day.
Mike Reeve:So how do you ensure that all this western canadian audience can see this or potentially bid on it on sale day? And that's what the power of social media again coming back to the right place at the right time, and that's what you know, everything coming together to allow this. And the farmers don't have to that, but they have to have the trust in CLH bid that we do know. So, team like yourself, Devon, to bring that marketing powerhouse to them. Grab that fantastic video that potentially you shot, or Billy shot, or Amos or whatever, and goes through the editing process, gets that great script. Well, we need the whole world to see that right, and they deserve the whole world to see it on sale day.
Devon Davidson:No, they do. That's. One thing is we want to make sure we bring, like you said, as many potential bidders to the table as possible, and I think we do a fantastic job of doing that as a team. I will say, roy, just going back to the signs quickly, is those vans, that is the CLHBidcom signature, right? I mean, it's so many people recognize. I talk to people in Saskatchewan all the time and say I've seen your vans here and here and here.
Devon Davidson:And that's how I first heard about the company as well. So, yeah, it's really interesting. And just in terms of digital, yeah, mike, it's changed so much too. It's changing constantly, new platforms all the time, but now we are on, I think, literally every social media platform.
Mike Reeve:And should be right. Like if you're selling a farm like that. Like Roy mentioned, there's so much history there. It's like you really have to put your best foot forward and make sure that it doesn't have to just be on a billboard at the local hall or anything like that Like it should be worldwide and it deserves to be so.
Roy Carter:Oh, it's a game changer for value at the end of the day for the seller. You know we're not regional. You know we're not regional. You know we got into it knowing real estate tends to be regional just the way they are and you know, normally not licensed out of province, and that we knew we wanted to be across Western Canada. There, you know there's. These borders don't exist for farmers and ranchers looking to set a kid up.
Devon Davidson:Yeah.
Roy Carter:You know, and the land at Tisdale is as good as the stuff at Bentley Bentley call it 1.6 or 1.5 a quarter. You know Tisdale is lighting it up now, but a few years ago you know, maybe 400 for the same land. Where are you going to set a kid up? You know you're not looking at that Saskatchewan border so you need to be across Western Canada. You know, and we've got foreign ownership rules in Manitoba, saskatchewan, alberta that we totally respect and get. For some reason they don't have them in BC. So yeah, when we sell in BC and we just sold the big ranch there that Mike was a big part of, I mean you get people on from the States, from Australia, but it's all because of the videography and the packaging, right.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, how about we talk about that project?
Devon Davidson:I was just going to say dive into it. Yeah, I'd love to dive into that one.
Mike Reeve:So, yeah, we featured a pretty big, extensive ranch in central BC this summer and Devon and I I know we were talking about this podcast and leading up to it and things like that and, Devon, you were fortunate enough to see it set boots on the ground there on a big marketing push that we did.
Mike Reeve:Um, I visited the ranch on two separate occasions so we had video production crews arrive at that ranch on three separate occasions to make sure that we were at the right time of year not to just show it off properly with, like nice fall colors. But then we were there at their branding and you know we were really immersed in that, what that, what that ranch was accomplishing, which was, you know, really high end cattle at the time and, you know, really showing off the land in a great way. So we, yeah, we arrived three different occasions, big crews, just to basically show it off in an international stage like Roy's talking about. And maybe people think you know, is that really necessary or whatever, but if it's's your ranch, I think you'd be pretty happy, or I would be anyway, absolutely myself to see that clh is, you know, bringing that to the table?
Devon Davidson:yeah, and not just you and I. I mean roy was out there as well and how many ceos of a company are camping out somewhere?
Roy Carter:you know, and it was fun roy wasn't just hanging out.
Devon Davidson:He was out there with his camera, he's taking photos, he's running like I mean, that's the level that the team goes to right.
Mike Reeve:But I think that's like, yeah, talk is fairly cheap, but we could sit there and say oh yeah, we love ranching. No, we love ranching. We had we were presenting the opportunity to be at that ranch. Well, who wouldn't take that opportunity? And I think that's the difference is like Ali was out there, billy was out there there because we were presenting the opportunity. Hey, could you guys come out?
Devon Davidson:for a weekend. Capture this. Shoot it absolutely like I love. Do I need more of an invite? Like no, it was crazy when I said do you want to come out? I said yeah, I'll be there.
Roy Carter:Like I like the day that I was there when mike's friend, that's a sled videographer and he also does stuff around the world.
Devon Davidson:We're talking about josh right.
Roy Carter:Yeah, sorry, yeah but he had this. It was like if I'm gonna get those cowboys and the horses, I gotta be on a horse. And then somebody asked him you ever been on a horse before? I was like no, and they threw him on a horse with all his video gear and away he went and I'm not talking small video, it was a lot of cinema gear.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, it was like five axis gimbal he had a twenty thousand dollar dji phone in, like he was hanging off of a horse.
Devon Davidson:Yes, yeah, I've never been on a horse.
Roy Carter:No, and away he went and he got some amazing footage right oh yeah but that's just having people that think out of the box and yeah, well, that was a really cool experience for me, right?
Devon Davidson:because it was so collaborative, right? We like between billy and josh and myself and ally and you, and it's like we're all sitting here. We all have an interest in farming and ranching and photography and we're just at the end of the of the night we'd just be looking at footage. It's like, wow, that's a banger.
Devon Davidson:It was like yes, okay, great job, guys, and just a really quick, funny story. I thought I was getting punked, roy, I'll be honest. So I'm from Saskatoon and I'm driving across Western Canada to this ranch and Roy drops me a pin and there was an accident, didn't? Uh, I didn't get there in time. It got dark and I'm driving the only no, there's absolutely zero light. I've never been here before. It's a ranch in the middle of bc. Um, I'm kind of driving on this dirt road going through the valley and no cell service no cell service.
Devon Davidson:Eventually I see like a light way off in the distance and I'm like I can't think that's where I should be going and and I wasn't driving really fast, but maybe not as fast as I should have been, because the next day I saw the drop-offs on each side of the road and I went.
Devon Davidson:Oh, I should have gone a little slower maybe, but I thought they were sending me to the middle of nowhere. I thought it was like an initiation thing Roy was just punking me. But I got there anyway and Roy was so welcoming and I just had a great experience. Thanks, Devon.
Roy Carter:And the owners themselves too were so great, um, just just helped us out. I mean, yeah, they had raised kids there and, um, yeah, three different families kind of thing, the ranches and, uh, again, it was probably like a few people.
Roy Carter:We talk a farm like being a person, but uh they all had houses on it and the upper slope to that uh ranch, that valley, it just felt good. It just kind of felt like we were the only people in that valley and kind of an hour and a half east of whistler or something there, but a spectacular area, yeah, yeah.
Mike Reeve:One thing that was pretty cool for me was being at the branding of that ranch with Allie and Billy Tyler was there and to be able to spend some time with the sellers and you know they had so much history there. So, Roy, you talked, but it was really cool to spend some time with them and the kids. So the kids were about my age, we got along really well, but they're a little bit apprehensive about the start.
Mike Reeve:We came in, we had our signs up. This is probably the third and last time that we're going to be there to shoot some more relevant or recent content of the ranch going to be there to shoot some more relevant or recent content of the ranch and they're very. You know. They had their backs up for sure when we first arrived there. Yeah, because they had spent the last decade, at least growing up at that ranch, spending all their long weekends there. They had their families and now their kids there with them and they didn't know what to think of us, but we spent the weekend with them.
Mike Reeve:We were getting our hands dirty with the branding, you know. We had the irons in the fire. We were doing everything with them, yeah, as well as trying to capture some footage, but really immersed into it, and at the end of it, you know, we were all dirty and whatever. And they turned to us and said, like you know what, we're happy you guys are selling this ranch for us because you guys get it. You want, you want to be here, and that was like the respect was there, right.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, it was huge for me because, like again, you look back at, like you know, years and years ago, when Roy initially came up with this concept, and what does it mean? You know, like, where do you go from here? How do you really justify it? How do you do all these things right? To really ensure that these ranches, you know, get it and if the owners are telling you that and it means so much to them because it's a family member and they're- losing it.
Roy Carter:That means a lot. It had been listed by an international real estate firm for over a year before, but again, the owners then finally decided to take control and wanted to set exit date, right. And you know, again it was an international firm, but again the marketing was sort of typical here's the map and here's the ranch and here's the acres, right, yeah, whereas you know, mike made a Yellowstone movie out of it, right?
Devon Davidson:Oh, it was incredible. Yeah, and that makes my job so easy, mike.
Mike Reeve:Honestly, as a digital media buyer.
Mike Reeve:It's like if I have great content to work with, the reach and the awareness and the engagement online is just so much more than it would ever be if we had sort of typical video content there's a few potential sellers that we come across or, you know, got to meet later on clh and they said, like I started getting onto your guys's youtube channel, I couldn't turn away just because I liked watching every you know farmer ranch across western Canada. It was kind of like, drew them in for a bit. We've got our own, yeah you know channel that provides that sort of entertainment or content for farmers.
Devon Davidson:But it's cool to hear that people, yeah, enjoy that high-end production they do, and it feels authentic, too right, because we, like you said, we understand it right, it's, it's. This is coming from a real place and we get what's important yeah, a lot of times we'll use the.
Mike Reeve:You know the owners of the ranch or farm in the productions themselves, whether they're on a combine or swath, or you know they're out riding horseback or whatever, but they're kind of involved. So, yeah, you talk hollywood. This isn't hollywood. This is like.
Devon Davidson:This is what you're getting out of that ranch.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, I think let's maybe talk a little bit about packaging and how that was all done, because that was huge in that project because you know how do you bring all those together to sell essentially entire valley through bc.
Devon Davidson:Yeah, you know? Yeah, so maybe, roy, you want to touch on that because it is a different scenario.
Roy Carter:Oh, totally um, you know, and it's more um, it's more key probably than we thought when we started, you know, nine years ago. Type deal, um again. And this is maybe a bad analogy, but you know, I always say if you got a dodge ram truck and a livestock trailer and a harley harley in the back and a goat and a roping horse in the trailer, you probably wouldn't sell them all together, right not to the same buy, you know they're yeah, but somebody might want them all and you know that's where we get sometimes with, uh, farms or ranches.
Roy Carter:Sometimes there's really two ranches there. You know in this case there sort of was two. But we, the way we did it, we sort of saw the merit in the assemblage and the lift, especially with cattle prices now. But we'll really drill down there on how do we sell less. And this morning I just got off the phone with a guy in Southern Alberta and you know he's got a section here and then a half over there and got talking to him. But a transmission line down the middle of the section.
Roy Carter:Normally we'd try to maybe sell that section as two halves but the transmission line sort of straddles and there's revenue in that. Right, the half's a ways away and the way that's got to be farmed is one. So we just got two parcels there. But you know we'll try and drill down and maybe get three or four out of that. But then we have our En Bloc and we may well have, as mike knows, but this is important when he goes to shoot as well, right, he's got to know sort of what the packaging is to get it right. So you know it's not. We sold 53 quarters in saskatchewan near kindersley a few years ago and we had, I think, two or three En Bloc, because some land was on the Alberta side by Compere, kindersley, some up north. Well, you're not going to have one buyer for those, and not generally, and so the key to monetizing is not to put it in one grab bag because you're going to get hurt bad
Devon Davidson:Right.
Roy Carter:And that's kind of what we saw happening. Um, you know, the reason it was packaged as one by real realtors often is the farmer rancher would say I don't want to be left with one shoe or one rubber boot. You got to get the job done. Uh, so I need the same. I don't want all my equipment here to farm four quarters if I've got 18 right, so they would just package it together to make sure it got done. We get it done on one day, but we still engage as many buyers as possible.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, yeah, the packaging. You're right, we have to wrap our heads around it when we're capturing it to understand. You know how we're selling it and how is that going to appeal to the neighbor. You know how far can they come to make it enticing. Are they going to travel 10 miles down the road to farm that or is it just a single quarter that maybe a neighbor or someone in close proximity would really be attracted to? And, yeah, how we shoot that and how we market it, how we package it, all the marketing material that goes along with it yeah, it's pretty cool to see. It's such a cool concept. That goes along with it is yeah, it's pretty cool to see. It's such a cool concept I can't say it enough that, like the hybrid of CLH, taking all the best parts of how farmland was sold for the last however many years in Canada is like now improved because, you know, all those good, positive elements are brought together into CLH.
Devon Davidson:Well, and with that specific project too, I mean, there was multiple owners, there was options on it as well. There was all sorts of considerations. You know, it's not a cookie cutter thing, it's a very it's a complex process, right?
Roy Carter:Yeah, often in a case like that, you know, there there was options, hard options, on the assets. So the high bidder had the option then to take hay cattle equipment at a set price and they knew that price ahead of time. So they knew if they were high then what their strike was. On those options, right, yeah, and if they didn't want them, you know, some people would like to change out the yellow for green iron or whatever. And I saw a sign at a farm the other day east of Fort Saskatchewan and it said tractors are like watermelons, keep the throw away the green and keep the red. And uh, so, uh, you know everybody's. So you don't, we don't foresee equipment or you know um, hay or whatever with a farm, but we'll often do that as just a straight option.
Mike Reeve:We did that in that case yeah, and in that case they get like a turnkey ranch, you know if they want it, it's just as it was working. It's working now with the cattle, with the hay, like you're saying, the equipment, everything. You could literally turn and like walk in there the next day and just operate it like it has been which is advantageous for a lot of buyers. Right, yeah, yes, yeah yeah, and the manager wanted to say too. So it's yeah, such a a good turnkey operation. Just to keep operating like that.
Devon Davidson:Well, I don't know how much you want to touch on the ranch manager there, but there was a lot of history there, right, and so that was part of the story too. Was capturing that history.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, that's been weaving its way through this whole podcast, the history right.
Devon Davidson:Yeah.
Mike Reeve:Doing it justice, like, how do you show that? How do you make sure your grandfather, great-grandfather, are going to be happy with the decision you're making? You know, maybe you went you're a professional now, you went to school or whatever and moved to a big center and and you still have some farmland in your name and it's just like, well, you want to do them right. You know you do. Grandparents lived their whole life there. In some cases forged rivers to get here and, yeah, you know, broke the land themselves and, you know, created that sense of community around them. Roy knows all about that, because we're sitting on this centennial farm of his.
Roy Carter:Was it your?
Mike Reeve:grandfather that established this one.
Roy Carter:Yeah, totally so.
Mike Reeve:I mean, how do you, do you know? Would you make them proud by making this decision and choosing CLH Bid? And I think that's what we keep coming back to. Is this like it doesn't matter if you're talking to part of the sales team or just nickel answering the phone, anyone really at the team, but you're? Yeah, we all get it.
Devon Davidson:We're all putting our best foot forward so well, I mean, and there's a really powerful line, right, we use in our ended up using in our marketing. So, right, we're sitting at the kitchen table having that conversation with brian and the ownership and and he said this is my home right, yeah, you know that was just still. He lived in that valley his entire life and you know that became a part of the marketing itself.
Roy Carter:It was just really interesting yeah, he spoke as if he was a custodian for that valley. Yeah, and it came down from his grandparents. Yeah, and that's cool to hear, right, yeah, yeah, it's really interesting um mike in terms of technology.
Devon Davidson:I think we're maybe nearing the end of this podcast here, but is how do you see that changing in the future? Is there anything you technology? Where do you kind of see things moving in the future?
Mike Reeve:Yeah, I think you know, ai has got to be on everyone's radar today. It's such a buzzword right now and it doesn't matter what industry you're in, you have to be aware of it. You know autonomous tractors now it's touching everyone, right For sure. So we have to be aware of it. But I think there's such a genuine feel to still an operator going out there, understanding that farm, telling that story with boots on the ground, rather than just plugging in okay, it's located here, here's the lsd on it, or you know whatever and and then just allowing ai to come up with a story. It's. It's. To me it doesn't feel the same and I, I don't think our, you know we're doing our sellers a service if we for sure that route. So, um, we're aware of it. But you know, even my drones are autonomous.
Mike Reeve:I can set waypoints in there and allow them to do it but I don't think I ever have I don't think I ever have, it's always hands on the joystick. You're controlling that, you're telling the story. You're, yeah, taking the audience through that and really showing off that farm at its best foot. So, um, but in saying that, we are aware of you know what potentially other countries are doing, or other regions, like what's europe doing to sell farmland? What's the states doing? Are they setting anything different than what we're doing?
Mike Reeve:We're always like trying to like I laugh a little bit but I'll send videos out and like here's our kind of our best for 2024. But, like you know, the whole team like be, here's our kind of our best for 2024. But, like you know, the whole team like be aware if there's anything else coming down the pipe that you guys see, and it doesn't have to be an egg farm sales or anything like that. It could be like any sort of cinematography what are you guys seeing? And we want to stay sharp on the front forward edge of that and I think we've seen ourselves.
Mike Reeve:I'd like to think as a leader in that space for, since we've incepted in day one, definitely I agree but I, we want to be there and we're not just going to sit on our heels and say like, okay, we're happy with the drones we have, or what we're doing, or how we're doing it. It's if a seller, potential seller, came to us and said, like we want to hit this region hard, you know we've got ties into this industry or something like that. Make us a production that talks to them well, well, yeah, we're all ears and and hopefully, you know they, they're aware of us because of what we're doing.
Devon Davidson:Well, you know yeah, that's a good point, mike. Everything that we do is done in a custom way, it's very strategic every, every sale is unique right yeah, exactly, and so we approach that and we look at, okay, who are we trying to reach and in which geographic regions, and that filters out into everything that we do in terms of our marketing right.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, you talk about, like, okay, there's a lot to think about when you go to drone Sure the weather, Sure the time of year, Sure you know, meeting up with the client getting the right mapping, for instance.
Mike Reeve:You can't, you know, overstate how powerful our team is, whether it's grace or shannon working on the maps in the back, and when we get there, we know exactly the outlines of what we're packaging, how we're packaging it and all that's provided for us. It's like that's a huge game changer for us to have all that already done yeah but yeah, to get out there it's, it's bespoke, it's one-off.
Mike Reeve:That farm will be showcased in a one-off manner that hasn't been done before through our system or anyone else. And Roy talks about other sales that have been, you know, out there on the market before we get there. And then it's just such a game changer when we're able to like, really show the world what that farm is.
Roy Carter:When I started it was basically Ali and I and Mike, basically the three of us with this idea. But to get stills, you know when a farmer would call? First of all I had a cartographer who I would pay two, three days later to get me an image. Wow, with our team. Now, generally, you know, if we ask our team for images, I would say within the hour we got all kind of imagery right away. Yeah, but I mean it's uh, we didn't know even where to access all that now, but we've got that all in house now.
Mike Reeve:Yeah.
Roy Carter:It's a total game changer.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, we talked about the different versions of signs and refining that. Well, it's refining. Yeah, we're using your mapping and a lot of the time we're developing that. You know how do you develop the website. You know why is it so reliable? Well, it's. That's not a plug-in. Like our videos aren't a plug-in. That website format isn't a plug-in, that's all in-house. You know, we've got tech guys that are world-class working on that. Yeah, and it, yeah, it doesn't matter if you point a finger at any area of this company, it's just like that. We definitely if we're not already world class or you're setting precedence in that industry, it's just that we want to be there.
Roy Carter:So that's right and there's no, you just can't cheat there, you know, in our En Bloc, with those clocks running down to the second and people bidding different provinces and that, yeah, um, there, you got to be on the money.
Roy Carter:If you're out two seconds, somebody could get stuck with two, three million bucks or worth of land they don't want. They either want it all or none. Yeah and uh, you got to deliver and so there's no, you know, plugins. From that point of view, like if it's close, uh, we always say mediocrity doesn't work, right, it's not acceptable. Yeah, so from that point of view, we brought it in-house and we got to be on the money yeah, we've seen such an advancement in drones like we keep talking about.
Mike Reeve:I think a lot of people are listening to this get back to the drones.
Roy Carter:We're talking about drones, but it's just like yeah the technology wouldn't work either.
Mike Reeve:You're talking about like milliseconds, that were. You know that we're able to tell when bids come in and see that from the back end and it's just like, yeah, again technology. Thankfully, whether you're on lte or 5g on your phone or you're bidding from international on a laptop or desktop or whatever else like, you have to have that confidence in that system. And again it comes back to technology being advanced and that's not through ai.
Mike Reeve:That's not just taking the easy road out. It's. It's been a lot of trial and errors and a lot of working hard and earning that trust through the egg community to say, like that thing does work, it it's. You know, whether I'm on my phone or whatever, it's consistent, looks the same, operates the same and yeah, down to the millisecond you're bidding and receiving those bids and feeling it. And then the way the I just have to go on a tangent for a second because like we have been involved in the website.
Mike Reeve:You have to be.
Mike Reeve:It's a website-based company, yeah, so I've been fortunate to be involved in the website from day one and to see that vision that roy had is probably understated. He's pretty modest on this front, but like to see how that should work and again like be able to refine it, not just say like, no, that's how we're doing it, whatever, but like seeing how cattle operations work and that's where universal coast comes from. You know, to allow all um parcels open at the same time, then closing the dynamic close was such a unique thing for me too to see, like how it just keeps extending and it's just why does that operate that way? To just ensure fairness and open transparency to everyone. You know, like if you want to buy a piece of land, there shouldn't be games, like there shouldn't be things happening behind the scenes. It should just be open and transparent and allow you fair opportunity at it. Again, it comes back to the marketing that we provide or the droning that we do, but it's just allowing fair opportunity for everyone to have a chance at that land.
Devon Davidson:I think where I would see AI playing a bit of a role, mike, is just generative search. Now, things like google has changed so much in the way that they operate, so now when you search for things, ai is going to spit out a response for you and you'll and you'll get, it'll cite the sources for you. But now people are having to work a little less hard to get that information right. Chat gpt now has chat gpt search, so now they're providing real-time web results. So those are the kinds of things that, like we're not going to use AI for what we're doing, but in terms of maybe, how our, our potential sellers and buyers are searching the web. That's going to change and I think that's relevant here because we're going to continue to stay on the cutting edge for our clients through time. It doesn't matter what it is, whether it's AI or drones, or photography, cinematography, but we're all over it Right and we love that stuff.
Mike Reeve:Yeah yeah, don't tell lamus he's gonna have a self-driving peterbilt going down and put up the signs in saskatchewan for him.
Devon Davidson:he's not gonna get off that easy, no chance. Um, maybe before we we take off here, guys, is there, give me maybe one story between the two of you, like what's one, one thing that stuck out to the two of you through working together for, you know, eight or nine years this going to?
Mike Reeve:have to be a whole other podcast in itself.
Devon Davidson:It could be, but I want to hear some of the juicy stories here.
Mike Reeve:That story in Sweetgrass with Richard was pretty funny. I still remember that it was with his yesterday. I'll sell my land if you drive the pickup home.
Roy Carter:And I looked at Roy.
Mike Reeve:I just said. I've been telling you this for years.
Roy Carter:It sold well and he came to the Pinocchio Stampede as a guest then and we had him. Corey Stark involved in our marketing has large rain gauges and Richard was so happy they put about four inches of tequila in the rain gauge and he drank it out of the rain gauge.
Mike Reeve:There's a picture of that. Yeah, he's still to this day.
Roy Carter:Just a real beautiful family. Bianchi is their last name.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, no-transcript, and yeah, I can't thank you enough for having me on spending a night in the motorhome.
Roy Carter:I was in one end, you were in the other, but it rocked all night in that wind down there. I don't, couldn't live down there. His farmer rancher there said you know, come to see us in cypress hills just south, and it was directions were go over this hill and then you'll see a big Canadian flag straight out.
Devon Davidson:Yeah.
Roy Carter:And I was like, yeah, what happens if the flag's not straight out? Oh, it will be, oh it will be, and yeah, we got there and the flag was straight out.
Mike Reeve:The wind was just howling.
Roy Carter:It must have been 80 mile an hour wind all night. But yeah, they had us in family and had a beautiful supper.
Mike Reeve:Yeah.
Roy Carter:Nice, it's just fun stuff like that, right yeah, just you know, respecting their ranch and being part of their family for a bit.
Mike Reeve:Yeah, and it comes back to the CEO being willing to hop in a motorhome and take a huge tour like that. I think we visited you know three or four farms in Southern Alberta, and maybe CLHBid looks a little bit different formatted this day and age, but we're still willing to hop in a pickup or you know go meet farmers anywhere in Western Canada and it's, it's huge to be able to do that.
Mike Reeve:I can't say it enough that at how fun it is, you know it's. It's not hanging out of a helicopter chasing a jet boat doing 160 miles an hour or like what I'm maybe better known for of, like the 509 films that I produce and things like that in the winter months, but it's such a genuine challenge to say, like you have, like a snowmobiler going off of 120 foot cliff is one thing you do not want to hit. You know, forget to hit the record button. You know you want to capture that, yeah, and do it justice.
Mike Reeve:But at the same point you can't approach sale day with 110 year old farm yeah and know in the back of your mind you didn't do everything you could to try and you know, showcase it to the world. And I think that's the fun challenge that I see with clh all the time is just like getting to meet these cool people and, yeah, interesting places throughout western canada and getting to see the, the landscape, but just like approaching that challenge and saying like let's, let's put our best foot forward you?
Roy Carter:you sound like you've failed to hit the record button one time with the guy going over 120 foot jump, did you?
Mike Reeve:I still remain all good with all the pro athletes out there. We're all very friendly okay, so I haven't, but I can I have heard stories and I, my god, I would not, I wouldn't want to be that guy for getting hit record. No, no, no, not at all the athletes still want me to film them, so I must be doing something, right, okay, all right.
Devon Davidson:Uh, any parting words, guys or no?
Mike Reeve:I just I just want to thank, you know, roy bridget yes Devon, it's been a pleasure working with you for the past couple of years. I I just I'm so excited to see where clh bit's going to go in the future because I truly believe this thing's such a cool hybrid of you know everything good in selling farmland and absolutely if I had family selling a ranch or a farm, I'd put 100 trust in clh because it's just everything good about it. Yeah, it comes and they get a really cool video at the end of the day. Yeah.
Roy Carter:Yeah, turn over the ranch bye. If nothing else, we've got the right people at the right time. It's fun, it's been incredible.
Devon Davidson:Yeah, I know Same to you, Mike. It's been great working with you absolutely.
Devon Davidson:Thanks very much. Okay, well, thanks a lot, guys. This has been another episode of the farmland exchange podcast. If you enjoyed what you heard here today, please consider leaving us a five star review on your podcast platform of choice. This will be available on Spotify, apple podcasts and wherever you get your podcasts. Please follow us on social media. We're on Facebook, twitter, instagram, tiktok everywhere else you can find us. So give us a follow. And, of course, this wouldn't be a podcast without a bit of shameless promotion. So if you are interested in selling farmland, please give us a call. Check out our website, clhbidcom All of our contact information is there or send us a quick email. Info at clhbidcom. We'd be honored to have.
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